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A SHORT HISTORY j^ 

OF THE 

UNITED STATES 



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SCUDDER 



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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 




George Washington. 

Born February 22, 1732; died December 14, 1799. 
First President of the United States. 



SHORT HISTORY 



OF THE 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



JFor tlje ase of ^Beginners 



BY 



HORxiCE E. ^CUDDER 

AUTHOR OF "a HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 
FOR THE USE OF SCHOOLS AND ACADEMIES" 



WITH MA-S AKb rLLt/S'7 RATIONS- ' 



BUTLER, SHELDON & COMPANY, 

NEW VORK, PHILADELPHIA, CHICAGO. 



THE LIBRARY OF 

CONGRESS, 
Two CoREt Received 

AUG. 12 1901 

C©PV RIGHT ENTRy 

LASS C^ XXc N». 
COPY B. 



Copyright, i8go, igoi, 

By Horace E. Scudder. 

5 



PREFACE. 



Caeepul observers of our public schools are well aware that 

the average limit of school age is not above thirteen or fourteen 
years. Within that period pupils are expected to learn to read, 
to write, and to spell; to have a fair acquaintance with numbers 
and with geography ; and to be able to express themselves with 
some facility in the ordinary forms of composition. If, there- 
fore, the majority of children in America are to learn anything 
of their country's history while they are in school, they should 
have it brought to their attention in some other form than is 
common. 

With this in mind I have prepared the following book. 1 
have made it, purposely, for the most part a flowing narrative 
rather than a series of compact lessons. Thus it may be used as 
a reading-book and accomplish a double purpose by offering ex- 
ercise in reading, and by putting the reader in possession of the 
essential facts in the history of the country. I have sought not 
so much to emphasize particular incidents as to quicken interest 
in the continuous growth of the nation ; to show in some slight 
way that history is not the narrative of a series of chance events, 
but of a steady development ; to explain, ever so lightly, some- 
thing of the why and wherefore of our present nation. 

If, therefore, any one is disposed to find fault because I have 
not made this book more of a story, let him consider that I have 
been writing a school-book, and have been more eager to give 
beginners a just notion of their country, than to give them the 
means of passing a few agreeable hours. I would rather run 
the risk of being a little tame than throw away an opportunity 
for making on a child's mind some lasting impression of the 
causes of his citizenship. 



ri PREFACE. 

If, on the other hand, complaint is made that I have omitted 
many important facts and dates and have not packed my book 
with details of American history, I beg to remind my critic that 
the place for such a book is after the pupil is familiar with the 
broad outline of historic movement, not when his mind is ready 
only for the simple narrative. Until one has some general 
notion of the succession of causes and effects, individual names, 
incidents, and dates have little meaning, and to burden the 
memory with them is more likely to deaden the interest in 
history than to arouse the mind to a keener pursuit. I hope 
that after acquainting himself with the outline, which this book 
gives, the young reader will take up to advantage larger works 
both of history and of biography. 

In preparing this little work after already having written a 
History of the United States for schools, it is natural that I 
should follow somewhat the same line of thought as in the 
book for maturer students, but this is in no sense a condensation 
of the earlier volume. It is properly an introduction to it, or, 
where further study is impossible, a substitute for it; while 
entirely independent, it will so far familiarize the young student 
with the main current of our history as to make the study of 
the larger volume more interesting and more profitable. 

A single word as to the conclusion of the book. I am heartily 
in sympathy with the growing disposition to teach the rights 
and duties of citizenship in our public schools; but I am in- 
clined to think' that the teaching of history is the most effective 
means for leading pupils to appreciate those rights and duties, 
and offers the most natural illustration. I have therefore closed 
this book with a brief summary of the relations of the person 
to the whole community. 

H. E. S. 

Cambridge, Mass., 

April, 1890. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Chapter 

II. 
III. 
IV. 

V. 

VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 

X. 

XI. 

XII. 

XIII. 

XIV. 

XV. 

XVI. 

XVII. 

XVIII. 

XIX. 

XX. 

XXI. 

XXII. 

XXIII. 

XXIV. 

XXV. 

XXVI. 

XXVII. 

XXVIII. 

XXIX. 

XXX. 

XXXI. 

XXXII. 

XXXIII. 

XXXIV. 

XXXV. 

XXXVI. 

XXXVII. 



Pagr 

Across a Continent 9 

The United States OF America . 11 

First Inhabitants of America 12 

How THE Indians lived • 14 

The Far East 18 

Christopher Columbus 22 

Discovery of the New World 26 

Europe AND America 29 

England and America 33 

The First English Colony 36 

Captain John Smith 39 

The Pilgrim Fathers 42 

The Plymouth Colony 45 

The Puritans 48 

New England in America 52 

The Settlers and the Indians 57 

Early New York 59 

William Penn and the Friends ,... = .. 61 

Pennsylvania and Delaware . 63 

Maryland and Virginia 67 

The Carolinas , . , . . 71 

Oglethorpe and Georgia 73 

The English in America 76 

The French in America . 78 

The Indian Tribes ^1 

The Fight for America 82 

The French lose America 85 

Boyhood of Benjamin Franklin ...... 89 

Franklin's Manhood 95 

England and her Colonies 103 

Why our Fathers resisted England 106 

The Boston Tea-Party 110 

Lexington and Concord 116 

Battle of Bunker Hill 120 

The Breach widens 126 

Fourth of July 128 

The War for Independence 131 



viii CONTENTS 

Chaiteb Page 

XXXVIII. Heroes of the Wau : The Plain People .... 136 

XXXIX. Hekoes of THE War: The Leaders 141 

XL. George Washington 149 

XLL A Bundle of Sticks 153 

XLIL The New Government 156 

XLIIL The Government AT WORK . 159 

XLlV. The New World and the Old 162 

XLV. The United States and Europe 165 

XLVI. The Growth of the Country 169 

XLVIL The North and the South. 1 173 

XLVIIL The North AND THE South. 11 175 

XLIX. The North and the South. Ill 178 

L. The East and the West. 1 181 

LL The East and the West. II 184 

LII. The East AND the West. Ill 188 

LIII. Free States and Slave . 191 

LIV. The War with Mexico 194 

LV. The Pacific Coast. 1 198 

LVI. The Pacific Coast. II 201 

LVII. The Contest about Slavery 204 

LVIll. Secession 210 

LIX. The War FOR the Union. 1 214 

LX. The War FOR the Union. II 216 

LXL The War FOR THE Union. Ill 220 

LXIL After THE War 224 

LXIII. The Union once more 226 

LXIV. The States of the Union. 1 230 

LXV. The States OF the Union. II 234 

LXVI. The States OF THE Union. Ill .238 

LXVII. The States of the Union. IV . 244 

LXVIII. The Territories 249 

LXIX. How WE GOVERN ourselves. — The People . . . 252 

LXX. How WE GOVERN OURSELVES. — CONGRESS .... 256 

LXXI. How WE GOVERN OURSELVES. — ThE PRESIDENT . . 261 

LXXII. The Presidents 265 

LXXIII. How WE GOVERN OURSELVES. — ThE CoURTS AND 

Judges 275 

LXXIV. How WE GOVERN OURSELVES. — The Voter ... 277 

LXXV. Recent Events 279 

Index 




Patent Applied for 



Map to Illustrate Routes of Navigators to In 




AND America in the 15th and 16th Cei 



Copyright, 1884, by Jacob Wells 



A SHORT HISTORY 

OF THE 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 



CHAPTER I. 

ACROSS A CONTINENT. 

1. There is an office in the city of Washington which 
has a great many telegraph wires running into it. Mes- 
sages are sent over these wires every day from all parts 
of the country, telling what the weather is ; and every 
day messages are sent back from Washington to all 
parts of the country,. telling what the weather is likely 
to be on the following day. 

2. Thus the captain, who has his vessel in harbor, 
may know beforehand if a storm is coming, and whether 
or not he shall hoist anchor and set sail. The farmer 
may know if it is wise for him to sow his grain or 
harvest his crop. The gardener may know if there is 
to be a frost; and persons who are going on journeys 
may prepare for fair or for stormy weather. 

3. The telegraph carries news in an instant from 
Washington to San Francisco, and from San Francisco 
to Washington ; but if a person were to travel by rail 
across the country night and day, he would be a week 
on the road. If he were to set out from Eastport, the 
farthermost town in Maine, to go to Brownsville in 



10 ACROSS A CONTINENT. 

Texas on the borders of Mexico, he would need at 
least as much time. 

4. If he were to ride a horse from Washington to 
San Francisco, and travel two hundred and fifty miles 
a week, it would take him three months to make the 
journey. If he were to go afoot, and walk a hundred 
miles every week, he would be eight months on the way. 

5. If our traveler were taking this walk from Wash- 
ington to San Francisco, he would in a few days cross 
a great range of mountains known as the Alleghany 
Mountains. Then he would follow the course of the 
Ohio River westward. By and by he would come to 
the great river Mississippi, which flows through tlie 
country from north to south. He would have made 
about one third of his journey. 

6. After crossing the Mississippi, he would follow 
the current of another river flowing into it from the 
west. That river and its branches come down from 
the Rocky Mountains, and our traveler would have 
to cross that range. He would then have gone about 
two thirds of the way. 

7. Thus far, his journey would have taken him by 
many cities and towns, and past many farms ; he would 
have seen the smoke from chimneys of factories and 
furnaces, and he would have seen great numbers of 
men, women, and children. 

8. The last third of his journey would be more 
desolate. It would lead him across almost uninhabited 
plains to another range of mountains, the Sierra 
Nevada, and so he would descend to the Pacific Ocean. 
His walk would have taken him across a continent. 



THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. H 

CHAPTER II. 

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 

1. In making this journey across the continent, there 
is a point where our traveler might say in one breath, 
" I am in Ohio," and in the next breath, " Now I am 
in Indiana ; " but he would not see any line separating 
the two States. In fact, he could cross the borders of 
ten States and two Territories. Sometimes he would 
pass through the capital of a State, and see the State 
House. 

2. In Washington he might visit the Capitol, where 
men from all the States and Territories meet in Con- 
gress. He could hear their debates over the different 
plans proposed for making the country prosperous and 
orderly. He could go into the court-rooms, where the 
judges decide questions of law, and he might see the 
President at the White House. 

3. He would hear the English language almost 
everywhere, but he might hear also the language of 
every people of Europe, and many languages of Asia. 
He would see white, black, copper-colored, and yellow 
people. 

4. How happens it that in the part of North America 
occupied by the United States there are now about 
seventy -five million people; that there are villages and 
towns and cities, courts and schools and cluirches ; that 
all the people live under one government ? 

5. When the fathers of some of us were living, 
scarcely a Avhite man had crossed the Mississippi 



12 FIRST INHABITANTS OF AMERICA. 

River. When the grandfathers of some of us were 
born, tliere was no such thing as the United States. 
A few persons, not more than would row fill one of 
our cities, were scattered up and down the Atlan- 
tic coast. They called themselves English. They 
or their ancestors had come over from Europe to 
America. 

6. But there was a time when the people living in 
Europe did not know there was any country like 
America on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. 
They had never sailed across the sea. Let us imagine 
what America was like before there was any white 
man living in it, and what kind of men lived here. 



CHAPTER III. 

FIRST INHABITANTS OF AMERICA. 

1. The Europeans who came to America called the 
people wliom they found here Indians. If one has 
never seen an Indian or a picture of one, he must 
imagine a man with a complexion like cinnamon, with 
long, coarse, black hair, small eyes, and a narrow, re- 
treating forehead. His cheek-bones are higher than 
most white men's, and his lips are larger and thicker. 

2. There are probably as many persons whom we call 
Indians now livin'g within the United States as there 
were when the Indians were the only inhabitants of 
the country. Where are they ? A few are in Maine, 
more in New York, in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, 
North Carolina, and Tennessee ; but the greater part 
live west of the ^Mississippi River in places set apart 
for them by the whites. 



FIRST INHABITANTS OF AMERICA. 13 

3. Before the white men came, the Indians were scat- 
tered over the whole country. They did not differ 
greatly from one another in general appearance and 
ways of living, but they did not all speak the same 
language. They were separated into groups or tribes, 
and called themselves by different names, as if they 
were different nations. 

4. One tribe, or collection of tribes, occupied one 
part of the country, another tribe another. There was 
plenty of room for all. The Indians living west of the 
Mississippi River were more savage, but in the south- 
western part of the country there were tribes who 
lived then much as they do now. They had houses 
which they built in the sides of cliffs, and were gentler 
than most Indians. 

5. The tribes which were most warlike, and most 
able to protect themselves against the whites when 
these came, were the Iroquois, who lived chiefly in 
what is now the State of New York, and the Creeks, 
who lived in the country now occupied by Georgia and 
Alabama. 

6. How did these people first come to be in America ? 
Nobody knows certainly, but there are signs that they, 
or men like them, had long occupied the land. In^the 
valleys of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers arc great 
mounds, built by human hands. Sometimes they are 
in the shape of animals. There is one shaped like a 
serpent, and others are said to be like birds. 

7. These mounds differ greatly in their contents. From 
some of them human and other animal bones, earthen 
jars and images, stone pipes, and ornaments of copper, 
silver, and stone have been taken ; in others nothing 
is found. Ashes have also been found in them, as if 



14 HOW THE INDIANS LIVED. 

great fires had been built; but whether these mounds 
were burial-places, or places of worship, or sites for 
rude houses, cannot always be told. 

8. The Indians have built some of these mounds since 
white men came to the country. They say that their 
forefathers built others ; and as far back as we can go 
there were Indians living on the continent. They were 
the first inhabitants of America of whom we know 
anything. 



CHAPTER IV. 

HOW THE INDIANS LIVED. 

1. It was not hard for the Indians to live here before 
the white man came. There were plenty of fish in the 
streams and lakes ; tho woods held deer and foxes, and 
bears and turkeys, and smaller animals and birds ; upon 
the plains were vast herds of buffalo. 

2. They also had great fields of corn, beans, and 
pumpkins. There were many kinds of berries and wild 
fruits. If everything else failed, they could dig roots 
and eat them. They did not look forward very far, 
however, so that there were times when they suffered 
severely from want of food. 

3. They roasted their meats over the fire, and they 
also had earthenware pots in which they made stews 
and cooked their hominy. Some tribes had no earthen 
pots, but used water-tight baskets, and heated the water 
by putting in red-hot stones. When they went on jour- 
neys, they took with them a supply of parched corn. 

4. They lived out of doors so much that they learned 
to use the woods and streams, and animals and birds. 




Scenes in Indian Life. 

Qifi Dwelling. —War Dance.— Exposure of the Dead. 

Travel by Water. — Chief's Head. 



16 HOW THE INDIANS LIVED. 

The Indians of the north stripped bark from birch- trees 
and made canoes. Those of the south, where there were 
no birches, dug out boats from trunks of trees. 

5. They used bows and arrows, and they tipped the 
arrows with bone or flint. Fish-hooks they made of bone, 
and fish-lines of twisted wild hemp or the sinews of ani- 
mals. They made rude hatchets and spears, with blades 
and tips of stone. Many animals they caught in traps. 

6. The buffalo was an animal, every part of which the 
Indian used. He cooked or dried the flesh for food. He 
tanned or otherwise dressed the skin and used it for his 
bed, and he cut it up for ropes and cords. The marrow 
served for fat. The sinews made bow-strings. The hair 
was twisted into ropes and halters, and spun and woven 
into a coarse cloth. The bones made war-clubs, and the 
shoulder-blades were used for hoes. 

7. The Indians used the skin of the deer and bear 
and smaller animals for clothing, and covering for their 
feet, but they also wove cloth out of wild hemp and 
the inner bark of trees. They often ornamented the 
cloth with feathers, and colored their stuffs with juices 
and clay. They used fish-bones for needles, and sinews 
for thread. In winter they made snow-shoes out of 
bent wood and thongs of leather. 

8. In the south, the houses were made of mud, or 
were caves. In the north, they were mostly tents of 
skin, or wigwams. The Indians built these wigwams 
by driving poles into the ground in a circle and bending 
them toward each other at the top. The poles were 
covered with bark or skins, and a bear's skin served for 
a door. 

9. The fire was made in a hole in the ground, and 
some of the smoke escaped at the top, but a good 



HOW THE INDIANS LIVED. 17 

part of it stayed in the wigwam. The Indians had 
no matches, but they had a way of kindling fire by 
rubbing two sticks together. 

10. The women, or squaws, as they were called, stayed 
at home when the men went hunting or lighting. They 
took care of the fields, dressed the skins, made the 
clothing and fishing-nets, and helped to build the wig- 
wams, and to carry loads when the families moved from 
one place to another. 

11. The children, or papooses, were often strapped to 
boards when they were little, and hung from the trees 
to swing in the air. As they grew older the boys 
learned to shoot and fish with their fathers, while the 
girls helped their mothers in the wigwams. 

12. The tribes had villages, which were usually on the 
banks of some stream or luke where the fishing was 
good. Near the villages they planted their cornfields, 
and at the proper seasons they went into the woods to 
hunt. They had laws and customs, and they had a 
rude way of writing by means of pictures. From time 
to time they held councils for debate as to what the 
tribe should do, and the strongest and wisest were 
among the number of their chiefs. 

13. The tribes often fought with one another. When 
Indians went to war, they fought their enemies with 
bows and arrows, with spears, and with a kind of hatcliet 
which they called a tomahawk. When an Indian killed 
an enemy, he scalped him. He was thought the bravest 
who had the largest number of scalps dangling from his 
belt. 

14. To catch the beasts and birds and fishes, and to 
fight with success, the Indians needed to be quick run- 
ners, to have sharp eyes, and to be able to endure hard- 



18 THE FAR EAST. 

ship. They learned to know the signs of their game, 
and to find their way through the woods by little marks 
which few white men would notice. 

15. In their games also they were strong and alert. 
They were famous ball-players ; they jumped, ran races, 
shot their arrows at distant marks, and tried many feats 
of strength. They liked to dress finely, paint them- 
selves with bright colors, engage in strange dances, tell 
stories, and sing songs. 

16. Some of their dances were acts of worship. Many 
of the stories which they told were about the beginning 
of things. They made much of dreams, and tried to 
peer into the future, to make out what happened after 
death. They had many forms of worship, but for the 
most part they called the sun their god. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE FAR EAST. 

1. How came the people in America to be called 
Indians ? Did they call themselves by that name ? 
India is a great way from America, far to the west- 
ward. Indeed, unless one lives on the Pacific coast, 
one is most likely to go from the United States to 
India by way of Europe. 

2. Such a traveler would probably take a steamer 
through the Mediterranean Sea to Egypt. Then he 
would pass, by the Suez Caiial, into the Red Sea, and 
thus on to Bombay. If he were going to China and 
Japan, he would cross the Indian Ocean, make his 
way through the East Indies, and so come to the 
end of his journey- 



THE FAR EAST. 19 

3. The countries of India and China and Japan 
were once all known by the general name of India. 
India was then much farther in time from Europe 
than it is now. There was no Suez Canal through 
which vessels could pass, and there were no swift 
steamers. Travelers could reach the far East only by 
slow and dangerous land-journeys across the continent 
of Asia. 

4. Now and then some bold man would make the 
journey, and bring back strange stories of what he 
had seen. Besides, long trains of camels came from 
the East to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. They 
were laden with costly silks, and gold and silver, and 
precious stones and spices. India was a rich and 
wonderful land to the people of Europe. 

5. Once, great hosts of swarthy men of Asia crossed 
to Europe and Africa, and began to conquer those 
countries. They pushed along the southern shores of 
the Mediterranean Sea, and finally crossed the Strait 
of Gibraltar and took possession of Spain. There they 
built splendid buildings and carried on commerce with 
the East. 

6. After many hundred years the Moors, as these 
men were called, were driven out of Spain, but only 
after hard fighting. The war cost a great deal of 
money, and the king and queen of Spain, as well as 
the rulers of other European countries, became more 
impatient than ever to get hold of the riches of 
India. 

7. If their ships could only sail to the East! But 
the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea was a wall 
which they could not get through. Was there no way 
round ? That was what they began to ask themselves, 



20 THE FAR EAST. 

and their bolder captains and sailors were trying to find 
such a way. 

8. Before this time, ships had sailed in the Mediter- 
ranean Sea, and along the Atlantic coast of Europe. 
Sailors did not dare to go far out of sight of land, 
for they had no means of telling exactly where they 
were. They had no instruments by which they could 
reckon longitude. 

9. Sometimes, however, they were driven by storms 
or heavy winds away from the coast. In this way the 
islands which lie to the westward of Ihe coast of Africa 
were discovered. They afforded harbors into which 
Spanish and Italian and Portuguese vessels could run, 
and be made ready for new voyages. 

10. The Portuguese were famous sailors, for their 
country was almost wholly on the seaboard, and had 
good harbors. They kept sailing farther and farther 
along the coast of Africa, wondering when tliey should 
come to the end of it. For seventy years they kept 
on trying, before they reached the Cape of Good 
Hope. 

11. Meanwhile, others were asking if there were not 
a still shorter way to India. Learned men were very 
eager to find out all they could about the world on 
which they lived. Many were very sure the earth was 
a globe; if so, then it was clear that India could not 
be very far west of Spain, since it was such a great 
distance to the east. 

12. For they thought the globe much smaller than it 
really was. They did not suppose there was so much 
water. They knew how far it was to India if one 
went east ; they reckoned that it could not be over three 
thousand miles if one sailed west. 



THE FAR EAST. 



21 



13. But no one had 
sailed across that 
ocean which stretched 
away to the w^estward 
from the shores of 
Europe. The farthest 
any one had gone had 
been to the Canary 
Islands. Besides, In- 
dia lay to the west 
only if the world was 



Trom Ferro .40 




a globe. Suppose it was not 
a globe ? Multitudes of people 
and some learned men did not 
believe that it was. Who had 
ever been round it ? There 
were terrible stories told of 
great monsters in the ocean, 
and of dark regions out of 
which no one could come 
aiive. 



L. from 10 Green wioTi 



aa CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 

CHAPTER VI. 

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 

1. There were many who pored over their books 
and maps, and were persuaded that India could be 
found by sailing west. There was one who showed his 
faith by never resting until he had made the voyage. 

2. Christopher Columbus was born in the province 
of Genoa, on the coast of Italy. His father was a 
weaver by trade, and the boy had his own living to 
make. He went to school until he was fourteen years 
of age, and then he shut up his books and went to 
sea. 

3. To be a seaman in those days was to lead a very 
adventurous life. Many of the vessels were manned by 
pirates, and all were armed in case of attack. The 
captains needed to be brave and skillful men. They 
were merchants also, buying and selling goods. When 
they came to new countries, they would build forts and 
take possession of the land in the name of the king or 
prince in whose service they sailed. 

4. For about fifteen years, Columbus led the life of 
a seaman and captain. There are stories of his having 
sailed with some of the Portuguese ships which pushed 
down the coast of Africa. There are other stories of 
sea-fights in which he took part ; but it is hard to tell 
just what is true in the stories of the early life of 
Columbus. 

5. He was not always at sea; while he was on land 
he was often engaged in making and selling charts. 
He talked much with learned men, who were trying to 
get a more perfect understanding of the surface of 




Ohristopher Oolnmbus.' 



1 There are many portraits of Columbus, and they do not all 
agree in likeness. One of his companions has described him as tall 
and strong, with a fair, fresh complexion, and bright, piercing eyes. 
In later life, he had long, white, streaming hair. 



24 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 

the earth. He read books written by the great geog- 
raphers who had lived in earlier days. He talked 
with sailors, and he became convinced that there was 
a short route to India across the Atlantic. 

6. When a great idea becomes firmly lodged in the 
mind of an earnest man, it is pretty sure to drive him 
day by day until he puts it actually on trial. That is 
the way it is with great inventors. They study and 
work over a machine, maybe, until they can think of 
nothing else, and their friends are very apt to say they 
have gone crazy over it. 

7. It was very much so with Columbus. For ten 
years his great idea grew more firmly fixed in his 
mind. He went on farther voyages, going as far north, 
it is thought, as Iceland. Among the northern people he 
might easily have heard news which would make liim 
more confident. Fishermen, hunting for new fishing- 
grounds, had pushed out to sea and come upon land far 
to the west. Hardy Norwegians had found Greenland, 
and there were dim stories of a country still farther 
west called Vinland. 

8. Columbus could not carry out his plans by him- 
self ; he was poor. He had been too much absorbed 
in his great idea to get rich. So he tried to interest 
others. He went to the rich cities of Venice and Genoa. 
He is said to have sent his brother to England. He 
went with most hope to the king of Portugal, for 
Portugal was making great efforts to find a short way 
to India. 

9. The council of the king shook their heads. But 
one of the number went privately to the king, and 
asked him why he did not quietly send one of his 
ships upon the plan which Columbus had proposed, 



CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 25 

and put it in charge of some trusty captain. Then 
they would know if there was really any truth in his 
theory, and they would not be troubled by such a crazy 
fellow as Columbus, a mere dreamer. 

10. The king had been half persuaded by Columbus, 
and he was mean enough to send a vessel secretly, but 
it went no farther tlian the Cape Verde Islands. The 
captain came back, and said the voyage was plainly 
impossible. He had not the faith of Columbus. 

11. Columbus was indignant at such treatment. He 
would have nothing more to do with such a king, and 
he went in search of more honorable friends. Poor 
and forsaken, — his wife had died, — he traveled on foot 
with his little boy. He came to a Spanish convent on 
the way, and asked for food and shelter. The prior of 
the convent was a generous and a learned man. He 
took care of the travelers, and Columbus, as was his 
wont, talked of his great idea. 

12. The prior listened and believed, and from that 
time Columbus had one firm friend. More than that, the 
prior called in some merchants of a neighboring port, 
and they, too, heard and believed. Now Columbus took 
new courage; he was not alone. Others had faith in 
him, and he would yet accomplish his great purpose. 

13. He left his boy in the care of the monks at the 
convent, and went forward to see the king and queen of 
Spain ; but he was not so near success as he thought. 
For eight more weary years he talked and argued. Spain 
was fighting the Moors, and he even entered the army 
to gain the good will of the king and queen. 

14. At last there was a great victory over the 
Moors, and the king and queen seemed ready to listen 
to Columbus in earnest. He told his plans, and asked 



26 DISCOVERY OF THE NEW WORLD. 

for ships and men. They asked him what he wished 
for his share if he should really find new lands. Colum- 
bus replied that he must be governor of the lands, and 
have one tenth of all the wealth they brought. 

15. The men who were acting for the king and 
queen said this was impossible. Columbus was now 
utterly out of patience with Spain. He mounted his 
mule and started for France. There a great king was 
on the throne, who would listen to him ; he would 
see what an opportunity was offered him. So Columbus 
turned his back on Spain. 

16. This was the decisive moment. His friends, who 
were now men of influence, went to the queen and 
urged her to recall Columbus. If he carried his great 
plan to France, Spain would lose the glory and gain of 
what was sure to be done. The queen was at last con- 
vinced ; messengers wei'e sent to bring back Columbus; 
and now his great idea was to be put to the test. 



CHAPTER Vn. 

DISCOVERY OF THE NEW WORLD. 

1. When Columbus made his final agreement with 
Ferdinand and Isabella, the king and queen of Spain, 
he agreed to furnish one eighth of the cost of the expe- 
dition, and to be content with one eighth of the wealth 
which the new land should produce. He had no money, 
but the merchants who had listened to him at the con- 
vent lent the needed sum. 

2. He was so happy at the thought of carrying out 
his great plan, that he promised to devote the riches he 
should gain to the recovery of the holy sepulchre at 



DISCOVERY OF THE NEW WORLD. 27 

Jerusalem, a religious object dear to Christians of that 
day. The sepulchre was in the hands of the Moslems, 
tliat is, of people who had the religion of the Moors, 
and Christians everywhere were eager to recover it. 

3. Palos, a seaport of Spain, w^as in debt to the king 
and queen, and was ordered to fit out two vessels. 
Columbus was to provide a third, and to command 
the little fleet. But when he went to Palos, he found 
the town in an uproar. The people had heard of the 
expedition, and said it was sure death to go on it. 
Once more the merchants came forward, and not only 
offered their own vessels but agreed to go out in 
command of them. 

4. The vessels of that day were small. Only one of 
the three which made up Columbus's fleet had a deck ; 
the other two were open boats, not so large as many 
of the schooners which now sail from port to port on our 
coast. The provisions were chiefly dried fish, enough 
10 last a year. Besides the sailors there were a number 
of Spanish gentlemen and priests. One of the great ob- 
jects in discovering new lands was to convert the people 
to Christianity. 

5. Fortunately for the expedition these small vessels 
met no severe storms to separate them, or drive them 
back. They stopped for repairs at the Canary Islands, 
and then pushed out into the unknown waters. The 
wind blew steadily from the east for a fortnight, and 
the sailors were afraid that they were entering a region 
where there were no west winds to drive them home 
again ; but now and then the wind was against them, 
and their courage revived. 

6. They came also into a vast floating mass of sea- 
weed, extending for hundreds of miles, and were greatly 



28 DISCOVERY OF THE NEW WORLD. 

alarmed, for they feared the vessels would strike on 
hidden rocks and reefs. They passed through in 
safety, liowever. But the farther they went from 
Spain, the more terrified the men became, and Colum- 
bus had hard work to control them. 

7. He was steering for Japan, as he thought ; but 
when he had gone as far as was supposed necessary to 
reach that country, he noticed birds flying and other 
signs, of land to the southwest. So Columbus changed 
his course, and at last one night, watching anxiously, 
he saw a light in the distance. It moved about, and 
it was impossible to say wdiat it w^as. It may have 
been a light in a canoe. 

8. Early the next morning a sailor on one of the 
other vessels saw in the moonlight a low sandy shore. 
It was land at last, and when morning came Columbus 
and others took boats and went ashore. They discov- 
ered that they were on an island, and they set up a 
great cross and declared that the land belonged to the 

-king of Spain. 

9. It was Oct. 12, 1492, when Columbus set foot on 
this island, which was one of the Bahamas. He im- 
agined it was off the coast of Japan or China. For 
several days he sailed about among the islands, and 
landed both on Hayti and on Cuba. He found a gen- 
tle, dusky people living on these islands, who looked 
with Avonder upon the white, bearded strangers. They 
exchanged presents, and, as the islanders had a few 
gold ornaments, the Spaniards looked eagerly about for 
gold mines. They were looking for the riches of India. 

10. Columbus returned to Spain in the following 
January. He took with him some of the natives and 
the simple gifts they liad given him. He went in 



EUROPE AND AMERICA. 29 

triumph to the court of Spain, and told the king and 
queen of the wonders he had found. Above all, he had 
sailed westward three thousand miles, and found, as he 
supposed, a short route to India. 

11. He made three other voyages, but it is not certain 
that he ever set foot on the continent of America, and 
he died in the belief that he had discovered the coast 
of India.- Since he had sailed west, the islands were 
called the West Indies. The people who inhabited them 
were called Indians. By and by, as new discoverers 
landed on the mainland and found the same sort of 
people there, they still called them Indians, 



CHAPTER VIII. 

EUROPE AND AMERICA. 

1. We have seen how the Indians got their name, 
but how came America to be so called ? No sooner 
had the great discovery by Columbus become known 
than explorers from all the countries of Europe set out 
on similar voyages ; but it was a long while before they 
knew that a great continent lay to the west of Europe, 
and that a wide ocean stretched beyond that continent 
to tlie shores of China and Japan. 

2. Thirty years after Columbus made his first voyage, 
a ship starting from Spain sailed round the world. 
Other ships followed, and the geographers, who made 
maps and globes now knew that the world was much 
larger than had been supposed, and that there was far 
more water than land. 

3. Although Columbus was really the discoverer of the 
new land, his name was never given to it. An Italian 



30 EUROPE AND AMERICA. 

who was sailing in the service of Portugal explored the 
land lying far to the south of the West Indies, and gave 
an account of what he had seen. His name was given 
to the land, and it was called America. 

4. That was what we know as South America, but 
the name gradually spread to the whole continent. 
When the people of Europe, except the Spanish, spoke 
of the country lying to the west, they called it all 
America, but they still called the people Indians. The 
Spaniards long continued to speak of the western lands 
as the Indies. 

5. It was a wonderful hour for Europe when a new 
world was found. It was as if people were waking out 
of a long sleep. The art of printing had been invented 
not long before, and the cities were full of restless men 
who were eager to travel, to read books, and to find 
great treasures. 

6. The important kingdoms at that time were Spain, 
Portugal, France, and England. Spain naturally sent 
explorers to the countries lying near the West Indies. 
They crossed from Cuba to Yucatan, and conquered 
the rich country of Mexico. When they were firmly 
fixed there, they sent parties north into what is now 
California ; and they conquered Central America and 
the countries on the Pacific coast of South America. 

7. Portugal was a little kingdom, but it was a famous 
one. Portuguese ships first found a way round Africa 
to India, and Portuguese sailors discovered much of the 
eastern coast of South America. Thus Brazil came to 
be occupied by the Portup;uese. 

8. French fishermen, hunting for new fishing-grounds, 
had found the Banks of Newfoundland and the Gulf of 
St. Lawrence. So when the king of France was look- 



EUROPE AND AMERICA. 31 

ing for a short way to India, he sent out captains who 
took these fishermen with them. 

9. They visited the Gulf of St. Lawrence again, sailed 
up the broad river, and in the name of France took 
possession of all the country about. They followed the 
river to the Great Lakes, and finally discovered the 
waters of a river flowing southward. It was the Missis- 
sippi, and courageous explorers sailed to its mouth. 

10. The Frenchmen who thus went far into the in- 
terior of the continent were soldiers, missionaries, and 
traders. The missionaries lived among the Indians and 
tried to convert them to Christianity. The soldiers 
built forts. They found the Indian tribes at war with 
one another, and they took sides with one tribe against 
another. 

11. The traders at the various mission stations and 
forts bought furs of the Indians, and in return sold 
them beads and knives. The French did not clear the 
forests and plant fields. They had a few gardens 
about the forts, and raised vegetables for the table ; 
but there were not many French families living in the 
new land. 

12. While the French were thus trading with the 
Indians, the Dutch came also for the same purpose. 
Their native land, Holland, was a small country, but 
every foot of the soil was cultivated. The people liad 
even made new land by draining the salt marshes and 
building great dikes, or banks, to keep out the ocean. 

13. Since they lived by the sea, and their land was 
crossed by rivers and canals, they were sturdy sailors. 
Their vessels sailed into every port of Europe, and they 
early found their way round Africa to India. They 
grew rich by trading, and built great cities and towns. 



32 



EUROPE AND AMERICA. 



They had been subjects of Spain, but they fought this 
most powerful kingdom of Europe and won their in- 
dependence. 

14. In the year 1609 the Dutch also were looking for 
a shorter route to India, and found what is now the 




Dutch and Indians trading. 

great bay of New York, and the noble river which flows 
into it from the north. A Frenchman, coming through 
the woods from the north, discovered a lake to which 
he gave his name, Champlain, and the same year an 
Englishman, in the employ of the Dutch, sailed up the 
river as far as where Albany now stands. His name, 
Hudson, was afterward given to the river. 



ENGLAND AND AMERICA. 33 

15. The Dutch were disappointed that they had not 
found India, but they sent their ships to the great bay 
and river. They also established forts and trading- 
places at Albany, at New York, and about the bay. 
They traded with the Indians for furs, but they also 
began to send out companies of men and women as set- 
tiers. Their rich men took possession of great tracts 
of land near the river and bay, for farms. 



CHAPTER IX. 

ENGLAND AND AMERICA. 

1. One other European nation was to have a still 
more important place in America. Five years after 
Columbus made his first voyage to the West Indies, an 
English vessel, commanded by one Cabot, crossed the 
Atlantic and visited the eastern coast of North America. 

2. Like others, the English were hunting for a short 
route to India. At first they avoided the track of the 
Spanish and Portuguese, and sought for a northern 
route. They tried to sail round Norway and by the 
north coast of Asia. Then they tried the northwest 
passage, but were caught in the ice and found it im- 
possible to make any headway by that route. 

3. Meanwhile the nation was growing stronger and 
more willing to run the risk of fighting Spain. Its 
brave captains sailed the south Atlantic, seized Spanish 
ships, and attacked Spanish towns. From being a nation 
of farmers, the English were fast becoming a nation of 
sailors, merchants, manufacturers, and fishermen. 

4. A hundred years passed after Cabot made his voy- 
agCj before English people began to settle in America ; 



34 ENGLAND AND AMERICA. 

but during that time English captains were sailing along 
the Atlantic coast. Just as the Spanish called the West 
Indies, and the countries lying about the Gulf of Mexico 
and parts of South America, their own, and as the 
French declared that the lands along the St. Lawrence, 
the Great Lakes, and the Mississippi belonged to them, 
so the English claimed all the country extending from 
the St. Lawrence to Florida. 

5. They even claimed the country where the Dutch 
had their trading-posts, but at first they did not interfere 
with the people living there. 

6. Toward the end of the hundred years, great changes 
began to show themselves in England. There was an 
increase in the number of poor people. Long wars had 
used up the money of the kingdom, and had left many 
families without fathers and husbands. Food cost more, 
and it was not so easy to get a living. 

7. Besides, when the wars ceased, there were a great 
many soldiers and idle persons, who were restless and 
discontented. They could not settle down to hard work 
at home, and they were kept on the alert by the stories 
brought back by sailors and travelers. 

8. There was a change going on also in the religious 
life of England. Formerly, the king and people had 
regarded the Pope at Rome as head of the Church. 
Now, the kingdom had declared that the Church in Eng- 
land was independent of the Pope. Moreover, many 
said that the Church needed reforming, and they altered 
customs which the Pope declared necessary. 

9. Not only so, but among the members of the 
Church of England there were many who said that the 
changes made were too slight, and some refused to have 
anything to do with this Church. They would worship 




William Penn, Founder of Pennsylvania. 

Born 1644; died 1718. 



36 THE FIRST ENGLISH COLONY. 

God as they believed they ought to worship Him, even 
if they were cast into prison for it. 

10. Tlius, for many reasons, England was coming to 
be an uncomfortable place to live in, or its people were 
eager to try their fortunes in the new land across the 
water. A little more than a hundred years after Co- 
lumbus discovered the New World, Englishmen began 
to flock over to it. 



CHAPTER X. 

THE FIRST ENGLISH COLONY. 

1. In the year 1607, three small ships, carrying about a 
hundred persons, sailed up the James River, in Virginia. 
These Englishmen were looking for a good landing- 
place, and they chose finally a low peninsula. Here 
they began to build huts and to settle themselves. 

2. They could hardly have chosen a worse place ; the 
river has already washed over the ground on which the 
first huts stood, and by and by the whole of the peninsula 
will be under water. Little now remains to mark the old 
settlement but the ruins of a church-tower and some 
old tombstones. Yet the place is famous as that where 
the earliest English colony in America was planted, — 
that is, the earliest that lasted. 

3. The settlers named the place Jamestown, after 
James I., then king of England. The country bore the 
name of Virginia, a name given to it by the voyagers 
who came there in the reign of Elizabeth, the virgin, 
or unmarried, queen of England. 

4. King James had given to a company of English- 
men a charter, or right to establish colonies in America. 



THE FIRST ENGLISH COLONY. 



87 



This company, when it sent out the settlers, hoped for 
two things, — to find gold, and to discover some quick 
way from Virginia to India. So they sent out no fami- 
lies, no wives and 
children, but only 
men. 

6. The men in 
this first company 
were of all sorts. 
Some were well- 
fitted to work in 
the new country. 
The greater part, 
however, had never 
worked at home ; at 
any rate, they were 
not the kind to use 
axes in the woods, 
for they were gen- 
tlemen, jewelers, 
gold - refiners, and 
one was a perfumer. 
The jewelers and 
gold-refiners, per- 
haps, were to work 
the gold ; for every- 
body was crazy to 
find gold. ^"^'^ ''"•^•"'^• 

6. They found some shining dust which they fancied 
to be gold, but it was only what is known as "fool's 
gold." They loaded a ship with the useless dirt, and 
sent it back to England, but fortunately they sent in 
the same ship twenty turkeys. So the ship did not 




40, ) C.Charles 

^\yPt Comfort 
^■7 C^'-^^^C.Henry 



S8 THE FIRST ENGLISH COLONY. 

have a wholly useless cargo, for these turkeys were the 
hrst ever seen in Europe. 

7. It chanced that some Englishmen had tried, a 
few years before, to make a settlement not many miles 
away. They had failed, and the settlement perished 
miserably, but not before the settlers had angered the 
Indians who lived near, by unjust treatment of them. 

8. Thus, when this new company of Englislimen came, 
the Indians watched them closely, and did not show 
clearly whether they would be friends or enemies. Not 
long after the settlement was begun, the Indians at- 
tacked the colonists while they were planting corn ; 
but presently a treaty was made with the chief Indian, 
Powhatan, and for a time the colony had peace. 

9. Indeed, in the first summer the Indians saved the 
colony from a dreadful end. The whites were not used to 
the country. They had made their first settlement in a 
marshy spot, and sickness seized them. Half the colony 
died, and the rest would have perished of hunger if the 
Indians had not brouglit them corn and other food. 

10. The colony had a hard struggle in its early days, 
but the company in England sent new settlers, and. 
among them women and children. Yet, three years 
after the first coming, the people were so discouraged 
that they actually abandoned the settlement and made 
ready to sail back to England. Just as they started, 
two ships came sailing up the river bringing new colo- 
nists and provisions. The people turned back and began 
again to occupy the land. 

11. From this time, Virginia grew and prospered. 
Plantations were formed up and down the rivers. The 
colonists raised tobacco, which they shipped to England, 
and sold it there for a high price. This was the chief 



CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 89 

industry of the colony. For a long time debts were 
paid in tobacco, and accounts kept in it. 

12. Best of all, in a few years it was found impossi- 
ble to govern the people from London, and they were 
allowed to choose their own law-makers and make 
their own laws ; but the governors were still sent from 
England. 

CHAPTER XL 

CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

1. When King James gave a cliarter to the company 
that was to settle Virginia, he appointed seven men to be 
the rulers of the colony. Their names were written on 
a paper, which was put in a box, and that was carefully 
sealed, and was not to be opened till the expedition 
should reach Virginia. 

2. Of these seven men, only one is famous, Captain 
John Smith. He was about twenty-eight years old at 
the time, but already he had seen a great deal of the 
world. He had been a sailor and a soldier ; he had 
fought in wars with the Turks; he had been taken 
prisoner and sold as a slave ; he had been engaged 
in sea-fights with the Spaniards. And so, after a great 
variety of perilous adventures, he had joined this 
company. 

3. He was a hot-headed man, and got into difficulty 
with his companions. But he was a masterful man, 
and the colony came to look to him for guidance. He 
was full of courage, and a man of strong common-sense. 
When others despaired, he rallied them -and took the 
lead. He conducted parties through the woods and by 
the rivers and bays, to explore the country. On one of 



40 CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 

these expeditions he was captured by some Indians and 
taken before Powhatan, and this i^' the story he tells 
of his adventure. 

4. He had been with his companions hi a fight with 
some Indians, and two of the Indians had been killed. 
Powhatan therefore determined to put Captain Smith to 
death, and commanded that he should be laid on the 
ground, with his head on a stone. Just as an Indian - 
with a club was making ready to beat out the captive's 
brains, Pocahontas, the daughter of Powhatan, rushed 
forward and seized Smith's head in her hands. Then 
she begged her father to spare his life. The chief re- 
lented, but kept the white man for some time in his 
village, making ornaments for Pocahontas. 

5. After Smith was released, the Indian girl came 
often to the village of the whites. She stood between 
them and the Indians. Once, when they had no food, 
she came with other Indian girls, bearing baskets of 
corn ; and once she did an equal favor to her own 
people, for Powhatan sent her to make peace for him 
with the English. 

6. The whites, seeing how much she was thought of, 
seized her when they were in danger, and shut her up 
in the fort they had built. They would not let her go 
until Powhatan promised not to injure them. So long 
did she remain with them, that one of the colonists, 
named Rolfe, became very fond of her, and wished to 
marry her. 

7. To do this, he needed to gain the consent of the 
governor of the colony, who gave it, because he thought 
such a marriage might make the whites and Indians 
live more peaceably together. Rolfe took Pocahontas to 
England, where she was called an Indian princess, and 



CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 41 

was made much of by the king and the court. She died 
there, however, before she could return to Virginia. 
There are a good many persons now, in Virginia, who 
trace their origin back to Pocahontas. 

8. Meanwhile Captain Smith had left the colony. He 
had faith in America, and believed that there would 
one day be a great nation here. But he was a restless 
man, the colony in Virginia was unmanageable, and 
the English company in London was trying to direct 
its affairs three thousand miles away. 

9. A new governor was sent out, and Smith went back 
to England. Afterward, he made a voyage to the New 
England coast, and carried back a map of it which he 
had drawn. The accounts which he gave of the country 
interested many people and led them to think of sending 
out parties to occupy it. 

10. Captain Smith never went back to Virginia. He 
saw Pocahontas when she was in London, and the 
stories which he told of her made her very popular. 
He said that she had saved not only his life, but the 
life of the colony. 

11. It was true that she had ; but, after all. Smith was 
the one who had most to do with the early history of 
Virginia. It was his courage, faith, and resolution that 
held the people together, and his wisdom and boldness* 
that made it possible to keep on friendly terms with 
the Indians. 



42 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

CHAPTER XII. 

THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

1. While the English were thus beginning to occupy 
Virginia, there was a small company of men and women 
ivho had gone from England to Holland. They were 
persons who had separated from the Church of England. 
They declared that the Church commanded things to be 
done, and to be believed, which were not right. Eather 
than obey, they would leave England. 

2. They lived for the most part near the North Sea, 
and it was not far to Holland ; bat when they set out to 
leave their country, they met with many difficulties and 
dangers, for the magistrates and rulers in their neigh- 
borhood tried to detain them. Nor did they feel at home 
in Holland. The people there, to be sure, had much 
the same religion, but they spoke another language, and 
had customs which were unlike English customs. 

3. So, when stories were told of the wonderful land 
across the sea, the English people in Holland deter- 
mined to go there. They meant to fmd a place where 
their children could grow up in English ways, and 
where they could be free to lead a religious life after 
their own belief, as they could not be free in England. 

4. There were merchants in London of much the 
same way of thinking, who formed a company to send 
these people to America. At first, two small vessels 
were fitted out, the " Speedwell " and the " Mayflower," 
both names of English flowers. The " Speedwell," how- 
ever, proved unseaworthy and had to put back. At this, 
a few of the company gave up going. The rest crowded 



H 




44 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 

into the little " Mayflower," «and sailed out of Plymouth 
Harbor in England. 

5. There were a hundred and two persons who thus 
set out for the new land. One died on the voyage, and 
a child was born, so that the number remained the same. 
They meant to land somewhere near the mouth of the 
Hudson River, but rough weather beat them off ; it 
was said indeed that the captain of the vessel had been 
bribed by the Dutch to keep away from their settlements. 
They took refuge finally in the harbor of what is now' 
Provincetown, at the extreme end of Cape Cod. 

6. Here they cast anchor. One of their number, who 
afterward wrote a history of their doings, says : " Being 
thus arrived in a good harbor and brought safe to land, 
they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of heaven 
who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean, 
and delivered them from all the perils and miseries 
thereof, again to set their feet on the firm and stable 
earth, their proper element." 

7. Because they had thus long been wandering; be- 
cause they had left England for Holland, and, after 
staying in a strange land for twelve years, had crossed 
dangerous seas ; and because all this was that they 
might serve God in the way they thought the only 
true way, these people have come to be called Pilgrims. 
The same historian has written further : — 

8. " May not and ought not the children of these 
fathers rightly say : ' Our fathers were Englishmen 
which came over this great ocean, and were ready to 
perish in this wilderness ; but they cried unto the Lord, 
and He heard their voice and looked on their adversity' ? 
Let them therefore praise the Lord, because He is good, 
and His mercies endure forever." 



THE PLYMOUTH COLONY. 45 

CHAPTER XIII. 

THE PLYMOUTH COLONY. 

1. The land where the Pilgrims had first touched 
was not a good place for a settlement, so they sent out 
parties to find a better. At last the " Mayflower," with 
all on board, sailed along the inside of the cape and 
entered a harbor, now known as Plymouth Harbor. 

2. A low line of hills sloped to the water's edge or 
fell off in an abrupt bluff. A brook of pure water 
flowed into the harbor, and some pleasant springs were 
on the hillside, and this abundance of water chiefly 
decided the Pilgrims to make their home there. 

3. It was the twenty-first day of December, 1620, when 
they began to go ashore. They did not all leave the 
" Mayflower " at once and take everything out of the 
vessel. It was winter, and there were no houses for 
shelter ; besides, they were afraid lest they should be 
attacked by the Indians. When exploring the coast they 
had seen some Indians, and had been shot at by them. 

4. So, while most of the women and children remained 
for a while on board the vessel, the men went back and 
forth, and busied themselves with getting the place in 
readiness. They built a rude house twenty feet square, 
to serve as a common shelter for a time ; and they built 
a platform upon which they mounted some guns. 

b. Little by little they were able to build separate 
houses for the different families, and they laid out the 
land so that each might have a field and garden. There 
was some land, however, which was called common, 
because all the people had a common right to it. 



46 THE PLYMOUTH CGLUNf. 

6. In many New England towns and cities there are 
to-day public pai'ks which ai'e called commons. Such a 
one is Boston Common. It is a pleasure-ground now, 
planted with trees and laid out with walks ; but when it 
was first marked out, it was not intended for a park. It 
was land where any one could pasture his sheep or cows, 
or let his geese and ducks find food. Within the memory 
of men now living, cows were pastured on the Common. 
It was only when the city grew so dense that nobody 
kept cows or sheep, that the Common became a park. 

7. To return to the little settlement at Plymouth. 
The money needed to bring the Pilgrims over, and to 
buy tools and clothing and other necessary articles, had 
been furnished by the company of London merchants. 
Some of the colonists shared in the expense, but most 
were poor. All the earnings of the village were to go 
into one common stock, to be paid to the merchants 
after each family had received what it actually needed. 

8. In fact, the colony was not unlike one of the great 
factory or railroad corporations so common nowadays. 
Certain persons have shares in the corporation ; that is, 
they have given money to carry on the railroad, let us 
say. Then, after the road has been made, the cars and 
engines have been built, the coal has been bought, and 
the workmen have been paid, the earnings of the rail- 
road over and above all these expenses are divided 
among the shareholders. 

9. It was somewhat thus at Plymouth ; but there was 
not much to be earned at first. The colonists could 
scarcely provide for themselves. The plan did not work 
very well, and after a three years' trial it was given up. 
It was found that when each family had its own piece of 
ground, it throve better. 



THE PLYMOUTH COLONY. 47 

10. The first winter in Plymouth was a sore one for 
the Pilgrims. They could not be comfortable or well 
either in the little ship or in the rude huts on shore. 
Half of the number died, and at times there were only 
six or seven persons who were really well. These had 
to fetch the wood, make the fires, cook the meals, and 
care for the sick and dying. 

11. Shortly before the Pilgrims came, there had been 
a plague among the Indians, and great numbers had 
died. For this reason the colonists were not so much 
molested, though the Indians whom they saw were not 
at first very friendly. By and by, however, there was 
a better understanding. One of the Indians, named 
Squanto, had learned a little English, and when spring 
came he showed the colonists how to plant Indian corn, 
and where they could catch the best fish. 

12. By the end of March, all who had lived through 
the winter were housed in the little village, and in April 
the " Mayflower " sailed back to England. Though the 
Pilgrims had suffered such hardships, not one returned 
in the vessel. They stood by one another, and sent 
brave words to their friends in England. It was a rough 
country to which they had come, and there were savage 
men and wild beasts, but here they could live as they 
wished to live. 

13. They could worship God as they thought He de- 
sired to be worshiped. This made them willing to 
endure hardships. They chose those who should be 
ministers in their church and rulers in their little set- 
tlement. By and by other vessels came, bringing more 
families. The colony did not grow very fast, but it 
was soon to have more prosperous neighbors. 



48 THE PURITANS. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

THE PURITANS. 

1. For eight years, the Pilgrims at Plymouth were 
almost the only white men on the shores of Massachu- 
setts Bay. Here and there, an Englishman had made a 
clearing in the woods, and tilled his farm, or fished and 
hunted. Then a settlement was formed on Cape Ann, 
and named Salem. It was at first intended chiefly for 
the convenience of English fishermen, who came in 
greater numbers every year to fish off the coast. 

2. Meanwhile, people in England were becoming very 
much disturbed over the condition of affairs in that 
country. Many feared that the king was planning to 
rule without a Parliament. Parliament is like our Con- 
gress, composed chieuy of men chosen by the people to 
make laws, and to decide what taxes shall be ordered for 
the support of government. To rule without a Parlia- 
ment would enable the king to tax the people without 
their consent, and make wars on other nations whether 
the people wished it or not. 

3. At the same time, those who feared this were afraid, 
also, that the Church would take sides with the king. 
They knew that the Pilgrims, and others like them, had 
been obliged to leave the country, or had been impri;:^- 
oned, for refusing to obey the Church. Now they feared 
that the bishops were willing to lead the Church back to 
submission to the Pope at Rome. 

4. The people who thus feared were nicknamed Puri- 
tans, because they said they were seeking purer Church 
ways ; but they were still members of the Church of 
England. They were very much in earnest, and strongly 




: 1\ '. 



^"^t-t CUTTYHUNkC^ r^MARTMA'Sfr) VINEYARD I. 



50 THE PURITANS. 

opposed to those who sided with the king in his struggle 
with Parliament. 

5. It looked very much as if there might be a war in 
England some day, and many of the Puritans resolved 
to be in readiness for it. If old England was in danger, 
they would build a new England across the seas. They 
knew of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, they had helped 
make the settlement at Salem, and now they planned 
for a larger and more important colony than either of 
these. 

6. They already had a trading company under the 
title of " The Governor and Company of the Massa- 
chusetts Bay in New England." Instead of staying in 
England and sending out colonists to America, the 
members of the company determined to take their 
families, and all their goods, and cross the seas to the 
land on Massachusetts Bay which King Charles had 
given them. 

7. The company contained many persons of impor- 
tance. They were men who, if they stayed in England, 
would very likely be members of Parliament, or learned 
ministers, or wealthy merchants. Chief among them 
was John Winthrop, whom they chose to be their gov- 
ernor. In the spring of 1630, about a thousand persons 
thus crossed the Atlantic, bound for Massachusetts Bay. 

8. At first, a large part of the company began to oc- 
cupy a peninsula between the Charles and Mystic rivers, 
which they named Charlestown. A hot summer fol- 
lowed, and the springs were low, so that many were 
taken sick. Across the Charles River was another 
peninsula, with three high hills upon it, from which it 
received the name of Trimountain, and the people in 
Charlestown could easily look across to it. 



THE PURITANS. 61 

9. Only one man was living there, a minister named 
Blackstone, who had strayed over from England. When 
he saw in what trouble the people in Charlestown were, 
he proposed that they should come over to his place, 
where there were excellent springs of water and plenty 
of room for all. 

10. Thus, while a few families stayed in Charlestown, 
most of the people moved over to Trimountain in Sep- 
tember. At a meeting of the General Court, as the 
parliament of the little colony was called, it was agreed 
to call the place Boston. This name was given because 
many of the principal people came from Boston in Eng- 
land. Trimountain went out of use ; but Tremont, the 
name of a street in Boston, is the same as the old word. 

11. It would not be easy to see the Boston of Win- 
throp's day in Boston as it is now. It is no longer a 
peninsula. The narrow neck, which joined the pear- 
shaped Trimountain to the mainland, has been widened 
by filling in the marshes on either side with earth. The 
three hills which gave a name to the place have been so 
leveled, that the only high point left is that on which 
the State House stands. 

12. One of the first buildings which the settlers raised 
was the meeting-house, standing nearly opposite the site 
of the old Merchants' Exchange on State Street. It was 
a low, one-story building. In it the townspeople met, not 
only for worship on Sunday, but for all public meetings, 
until the Town House was built, more than twenty years 
later. That stood where the old State House stands. 

13. Since the chief settlements were on the shores of 
the bay, the people very soon built vessels and engaged 
in fishing. They sent fish and lumber to England, and 
their vessels also began to trade with Virginia and with 



52 NEW ENGLAND IN AMERICA. 

such settlements as sprang up along the coast and in the 
West Indies. 

14. Everybody worked, from the governor down. 
John Winthrop was many times chosen governor, and 
he was the chief man in the early years of the colony. 
So long as he had anything himself, he was ready to give 
it to his poorer neighbor. 

15. There is a story told of the first winter in the set- 
tlement. No ship had come in for a long time, and the 
people were having a severe experience. They had not 
yet been able to plant the ground and reap a harvest, 
wind their provisions had given out. Many were keeping 
tilive on clams and mussels, acorns and nuts. 

16. The governor had his last batch of bread in the 
oven, and was giving the last handful of meal in his 
barrel to a poor man who had none. Suddenly, in the 
harbor appeared the long-looked-for ship. So, on that 
22d of February they had a day of thanksgiving, for, 
at first, thanksgivings and fast-days were not on certain 
regular days in the fall and spring ; they were appointed 
from time to time, whenever the people had anything 
notable for which to give thanks or for which to be 
sorry. 

CHAPTER XV. 

NEW ENGLAND IN AMERICA. 

1. The Puritans, very soon after they had taken pos- 
session of the peninsula of Boston, provided a school 
for their children, and made the beginning of Harvard 
University, in Cambridge. They had come to stay, and 
they meant to have, in this country, what they most 
cared for in the country thev had left. 




Alexander Hamilton. 

t>orn January ii, 1757 ; died July 12, 1804. 

First Secretary, of the Treasury- 



54 NEW ENGLAND IN AMERICA. 

2. They brought no bishops with them. Their min< 
isters had been pi'iests in the English Church, and most 
of the colonists were members of that Church. But 
now they formed their churches anew, and left out all 
those customs which had troubled them at home. They 
banded themselves together for religious purposes, and 
chose their own preachers and teachers. 

3. They were English subjects, and they professed to 
be governed by English laws ; the charter from the king 
required that they should do nothing contrary to the 
laws of England. But they were three thousand miles 
from England ; they had a General Court for settling 
their own affairs ; they chose their own governor and 
other magistrates ; and as they were pretty much all 
of one way of thinking, they made such laws as seemed 
to them to suit their, needs. Especially they gave great 
heed to what the Old Testament said, for they thought 
they were in very much the same way as the Jews. 
Like them, they had been brought into this land of 
Canaan, they said, by the hand of God. 

4. For ten years, ships were constantly bringing new 
colonists from England. It was a troubled time in 
the old country, and many families were anxious to get 
away before war broke out. These immigrants were 
hard-working men and women, — farmers, blacksmiths, 
carpenters, millers, masons, fishermen, merchants, and 
many ministers. The ministers were the learned men, 
and the people looked to them for advice. 

5. Towns first sprang up about Massachusetts Bay, 
but soon the new-comers pushed farther out into the 
wilderness to get more room. Explorers found the fer- 
tile valley of the Connecticut River, and some of the 
Plymouth colony wished to settle there. The chief set- 



NEW ENGLAND IN AMERICA. 55 

tlement near Hartford was from the towns of Water- 
town, Dorchester, and Cambridge, at that time called 
Newtown, near Boston. 

6. It took a great deal of courage to make these 
moves, and the people met with severe hardships. One 
fall, five years after Boston was founded, a large party 
of men, women, and children set out for the Connecticut 
River, driving their cattle before them. They sent their 
goods around in vessels. It was winter before they 
reached the end of their journey. The vessels had 
been forced to put back to Boston, for the ice blocked 
their way. Some of the settlers made their way back 
through the woods to their old home ; some remained, 
living on a little corn and on roots and by hunting, till 
spring came. 

7. The little towns about Hartford appointed com- 
mittees, and these committees met and formed a General 
Court for the transaction of such business as the towns 
had in common. So began the colony of Connecticut. 
Afterward a colony was established in New Haven, by 
persons who came direct from England, 

8. A generation later, the New Haven colony became 
a part of Connecticut ; but, until a few years ago, the 
two original colonies were represented in the State 
of Connecticut by two State capitals, one at Hartford 
and the other at New Haven. 

9. Some years before the time of which we are read- 
ing, a Dutch captain had sailed into Narragansett Bay 
and named the island he saw there Rhode Island, or 
red island. The State of Rhode Island is the smallest 
in the United States. Maryland would hold ten such 
States, and Texas more than two hundred ; but it had 
an interesting beginning. 



66 NEW ENGLAND IN AMERICA. 

10. The Puritans had hardly settled themselves In 
Massachusetts, before they fell into trouble with some of 
their number. When people are very much in earnest, 
especially about matters of religion, they are apt to think 
that every one ought to agree with them. The Puritans 
"had established a government and church after their 
own ideas, and now certain persons not only disagreed 
with them, but said so openly. 

11. One of these was a young minister named Roger 
Williams. The magistrates compelled him and others 
to leave the colony, and Williams went through the 
woods to Narragansett Bay. He began the settlement 
of a place which he called Providence, because of 
^' God's merciful providence " toward him. His hard 
experience led him to see more clearly that the State 
ought not to interfere with a man's religious belief, and 
he and others helped to make Rhode Island a refuge for 
persons driven out of other colonies. 

12. Between the Massachusetts colony and the French 
settlements to the north there was a wild country, very 
little known. Along the coast were good harbors and 
fishing-stations, and solitary settlements were made here 
and there. On the rivers, too, farms were started ; but 
the farmers built high picket fences about their houses 
for fear of the Indians. What is now the State of 
Maine was, until 1820, a part of Massachusetts. 

13. For a long time Massachusetts tried also to get 
control of the settlements in New Hampshire, and did 
for a time govern them. The colony took its name from 
Hampshire in England, because the king had given the 
governor of that county a large part of the territory in 
which these settlements were formed. 



THE SETTLEKS AND THE INDIANS. 57 

CHAPTER XYI. 

THE SETTLERS AND THE INDIANS. 

1. Whenever an English company or an English 
nobleman wished to plant a colony in America, the 
first thing to be done was to get a charter from the 
king. The Iving was said to own all the land and to 
have the right to parcel it out among his subjects ; 
and as the country had never been surveyed, the dif- 
ferent colonies often had quarrels over the correct 
boundaries. 

2. But neither Spanisli, French, Dutch, nor English 
troubled themselves greatly with the thought that the 
Indians were the real owners of the land. They saw- 
that tlie Indians roamed from one place to another 
and had few villages. There was plenty of room for 
new-comers. 

3. Sometimes the settlers bought land of the nearest 
Indians. They gave presents of beads, or cloth, or knives, 
and sometimes guns and powder and shot; in return, the 
Indians put marks at the bottom of papers, by which they 
agreed to give up their lands to the whites. They did 
not at first understand what this meant. They did not 
suppose that the whites meant to prevent their living 
and hunting on these lands. 

4. There is an old story of an Arab and his camel. 
The camel put his head into the Arab's tent one stormy 
day, and begged to be allowed to keep it there out of the 
wet; by and by he asked if he might not dry his shoul- 
ders too. The Arab was good-natured, and let him do 
so. Little by little the camel worked his way into the 



58 



THE SETTLERS AKl) THE INDLVNS. 



tent till he was wholly inside. Then there was not 
room for both, and the Arab had to go outside. 

5. Something like this happened between the Indians 
and the settlers. But the settlers were not wholly self- 
ish. Just as the Spaniards took priests with them to 
convert the Indians, so the English colonists hoped to 
convert the savages into whose country they came. One 
of the chief reasons for founding Harvard College was 
that there might be a place in which to educate Indians. 




A Stockade. 

6. One of the New England ministers, John Eliot, 
was so earnest that he devoted his life to Christianizing 
the Indians. The Indians had no written language nor 
any books, but Eliot and others listened to their words, 
wrote them down with English letters, and so made a 
written language, and translated books into it. Eliot 
translated the Bible, and, for this and other labors, early 
received the name of the Apostle Eliot. 

7. The Puritans, however, did not understand the In- 
dians very well, and tried to make English Puritans out 
of them instead of good Indians. The Indians saw the 



EARLY NEW YORK. 69 

whites settling on their lauds, and quarrels easily arose 
between the two peoples. It was not long, therefore, 
before the Indians in New England treated the whites 
as their enemies. 

8. The red men did not form companies as the whites 
did, and march in armies. They would steal out of the 
woods in the night, and appear suddenly at some lonely 
farm-house or remote village. They burned houses and 
killed people, and sometimes carried women and children 
into captivity. 

9. Only six years after Boston was settled, and a year 
after the first settlements had been made about Hartford, 
there was an Indian war, chiefly in Connecticut. It ended 
almost in the extinction of one tribe of Indians, but it 
made the Indians hate the English more bitterly, and 
watch every opportunity to do the white men mischief. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

EARLY NEW YORK. 

1. Just as there was a New England, and, farther 
to the north and west, a New France, so there was in 
America a New Netherland. It was the country lying 
along the Hudson River. Here the Dutch, from the 
Netherland in Europe, had their trading-posts; before 
the Pilgrims. had landed at Plymouth, they had built a 
few huts on the island where New York now is, and 
a fort near the site of Albany. 

2. The Dutch were merchants and sailors, and they 
cared most to trade with the Indians for furs. They 
could go in their ships up the Hudson River, into the 
heart of the Indian country, and they tried to get pos- 



60 EARLY NEW YORK. 

session of the Connecticut River for the same purjjose, 
but the English settlers there drove them off. 
» 3. They had little trouble with the Indians, and very 
early made a treaty with them on tlie banks of the 
Hudson, two miles below Albany. Tlie Dutch and the 
Indians gathered there, and went through certain cere- 
monies. They passed a pipe from one to another, and 
each took a whiff at it, which meant they were friends : 
they all held a belt, which meant that there was to be 
union among them ; and they buried an Indian toma- 
hawk in the ground, as a sign that no one w^as to throw 
a tomahawk at another. 

4. The Dutch West India Company in the Nether- 
land, or Holland, managed affairs in New Netherland, 
just as similar companies managed affairs in Virginia 
and New England. It took care to buy land from 
the Indians, and sent out families to occupy tlie 
country. 

5. For about sixty years the Dutch continued in pos- 
session, but the English were all the time crowding 
upon them. The people in Connecticut crossed over 
to Long Island and formed towns there, and began to 
claim all the country about as belonging to England. 
The Dutch at home were weak, and finally the Eng- 
lish king sent some ships and men, and seized New 
Netherland. 

6. New Netherland now l^ecame New Yprk, receiving 
its name from the king's brother, the Duke of York, 
and New Amsterdam became the town of New York. 
The Dutcli rule ended, — though the Dutch recaptured 
the place a few years later and held it for a year, — 
and the English rule began. Englishmen came into 
the town and the country in increasing numbers. 



WILLIAM PENN AND THE FRIENDS. 61 

7, But the old Dutch ways were slow in disappearing. 
Even now, one may hear the Dutch language spoken by 
market-women on the Hudson. Up and down the river, 
and along the bay, are names of places which were given 
by the Dutch. Staten Island, Sandy Hook, or cape, are 
Dutch names. " Kill," which means a brook, is found in 
Fishkill, Catskill, and the like. 

8, For a long time, the Dutch families not only kept 
Dutch names, but were very careful to keep up old Dutch 
customs. Many of these customs became common also 
among the English. The custom of making calls on 
all one's friends on New Year's Day was an old Dutch 
custom ; and a New Year's cake, after a Dutch pattern, 
used to be given to children. 

9, Some years ago an old lady in Albany, of Dutch 
descent, was called upon by a learned Dutch gentleman. 
She talked the Dutch language with him easily, but he 
said that it was not the Dutch which he spoke ; it was the 
Dutch of two hundred years ago. Language, like dress, 
changes ; and in Holland the language had been grow- 
ing and changing all this time. Here in America, the 
language used by the first Dutch had been used by a 
few people only, and so had not greatly changed. 



CHAPTER XVni. 

WILLIAM PENN AND THE FRIENDS. 

1. When the English took possession of New Nether- ^ 
land and named it New York, they also took the dis- 
trict lying to the south, where the Dutch had other 
settlements. Tliey called it New Jersey, and invited 
English people to settle there. 



62 WILLIAM PENN AND THE FRIENDS. 

2. Among those who bought large tracts of land were 
two Englishmen, who had a dispute about their property. 
They called in a third, named William Penn, to help 
them settle the dispute. Not long after, Penn bought 
the land which one of them owned, and a few years 
later, in 1682, came himself to America. It was not to 
New Jersey, however, but to Pennsylvania that he came. 

3. Pennsylvania means " Penn's woodland." The 
country occupied by the great State of that name was 
once, for the most part, covered with forests, and was 
a present to William Penn from the king of England, 
Charles II. The present, to be sure, was in payment 
of a debt which the king owed to William Penn's 
father, who was an admiral in the English navy. It 
was in honor of the admiral that the king insisted that 
the country should be called Pennsylvania. 

4. William Penn accepted the gift, but not because 
lie wanted a vast farm upon which he could be a lordly 
master. He was one of a number of Englishmen who 
called themselves Friends, and were called by otherr 
Quakers. These Friends could not live undisturbed 
in England. On the contrary, they were often beaten, 
shut up in prison, and even put to death. They never 
resisted the force which was used against them, and 
they constantly put themselves in the way of pun- 
ishment. Wherever they believed the Lord sent them to 
preach their doctrines, thither they went without fear. 

5. They taught that there was no church except in 
the meeting together of Friends, who spoke as each 
thought himself or herself moved by the spirit of God. 
They declared that there ought to be no armies or 
pinsons ; that every one should be obedient to the law 
i^bich God had written in his heart. 



PENNSYLVANIA AND DELAWARtJ. 6^ 

6. They said also that all men were equal before God, 
and should treat one another so. Thus, no Quaker would 
take off his hat, as the custom was, when speaking to a 
person of rank. Every one used tho name of the person 
to whom he was speaking without any title like Sir or Mr. 
He would call the king, Charles Stuart. 

7. The Quakers dressed with great plainness. They 
would not, by their clothes, seem to be richer or greater 
than other men and women. They would not use the 
common names of months and days, because they said 
those names were from heathen gods. They said " first 
month " for January, and " first day " for Sunday. 

8. Since they led sober and industrious lives, they 
were rarely in want, and it was held to be the duty of 
every Friend to help his poorer neighbor. But all these 
doctrines and customs made other Englishmen angry 
with the Quakers. So, when William Penn received the 
gift of a great tract of land in America, he determined 
to make a home there for Friends, and for any others 
who wished to live there peaceably. He meant to found 
a great State across the Atlantic, which should show the 
world how the Quakers would rule if they had their way. 

CHAPTER XIX. 

PENNSYLVANIA AND DELAWARE. 

1. It quickly became known that Penn had offered 
a home to emigrants. His fame had spread to other 
countries, and a large number of Germans came very 
early to Pennsylvania. Germantown is a name which 
reminds one of this, and, in the eastern part of the 
State, there are a great many families of German 
origin. 



64 PENNSYLVANIA AND BELAA^ARE. 

2. Before Penii arrived, there was a colony of Swedes 
living on the Delaware River. They welcomed tlie new- 
comers and were taken into Penn's colony. They were 
particularly pleased when they listened to the words 
which the governor spoke to the first assembly, which 
he had called together at Upland, now Chester. 

3. Penn declared that every peaceful citizen was free 
to come and go as he pleased, to worship God as he 
thought right, and to have a part in making the laws. 
Every one was to know what the laws were, for they 
were to be taught in the schools. 

4. In England, at that time, there were nearly two 
hundred crimes for committing any one of which a 
person might be hanged ; in Pennsylvania there was 
only one, — the crime of willful murder. In England 
the prisons were horrible dungeons ; in Pennsylvania 
they were made workhouses, because Penn said that 
idleness was the cause of most crimes. 

5. In many other ways Penn made the government 
humane and generous. He believed tliat people would 
be better if the rulers of the people were less harsh and 
cruel. But what surprised the world most was tlie 
manner in which he treated the Indians. 

6. When Penn first talked in England of making a 
. home for Friends in America, the lords and fine gentle- 
men at the court of King Charles made merry over 
the idea of the peaceful Quakers settling among the 
savages. They thought it was as if a flock of sheep 
should look for a pasture where the wolves were most 
aV)undant. 

7. Ever since Englishmen had been living in America, 
they had been fighting the Indians. It was so in Vir- 
ginia ; it was so in ^Massachusetts. Only ^ix year^ be 



PENNSYLVANIA AND DELAWARE. 65 

fore Penn's arrival, all New England had been engaged 
in a fierce war with the Indians, called, from the Indian 
chief, King Philip's War. 

8. Penn believed that these troubles with the Indians 
had sprung from the manner in which the English had 
treated them. The English had been unjust ; they had 




Philadelphia, 1682. 

driven the Indians off their land. He determined to 
treat the Indians as he would wish to be treated by 
them. 

9. He began with buying their land. He came to 
the meeting without any guns or other weapons, and 
made a treaty with them under a great elm. He 
meant to show them that he was peaceful, and that 
he trusted them. The laws provided that if a white 
man wronged an Indian he should be punished. The 
treaty so made was honorably kept on both sides for 
sixty years. 

10. Thus Penn laid broad foundations for a pros- 
perous State. He planned the city of Philadelphia, or 
" Brotherly Love ; " he meant that it should have broad 



66 



PENNSYLVANIA AND DELAWARE. 



squares shaded 
"vvliicli to live ; 
use. 



by trees, and be a pleasant town in 
in it he built a house for his own 




Penn's House. 



11. lie was disappointed, however, in his plans for his 
own life in America. He was obliged to visit England 

to attend to some affairs 
there, and- was kept 
longer than he intended. 
It was difficult to gov- 
ern the colony when he 
was away from it, and 
there was trouble while 
he was in England. He 
returned to Pennsylva- 
nia, but did not end liis 

days there. Once more he was obliged to go to England, 

where he died. 

12. His descendants continued to hold Pennsylvania 
as their property for many years after, but only now 
and then did one of their number live in America. 
Under the wise laws which had been made, the colony 
grew prosperous, and the people finally paid little atten- 
tion to the Penn family, except to quarrel with them and 
their agents. 

13. The part of Pennsylvania which was occupied by 
the Swedes before Penn came, was called The Terri- 
tories. It remained under Penn's government for about 
twenty years, when it was separated, and formed the 
colony of Delaware. But for some time, though it 
had a separate assembly, it had the same governor as 
Pennsylvania. 



MARYLAND AND VIKGINIA. 67 

CHAPTER XX. 

MARYLAND AND VIRGINLA.. 

1. The principal city of Maryland to-day is Baltimore. 
How did it get its name ? How did Maryland itself get 
its name ? 

2. Before William Penn received the gift of Pennsyl- 
vania from the king of England, the land on both sides 
of Chesapeake Bay was given by the king to another 
Englishman, George Calvert, who bore the title of Lord 
Baltimore. Calvert had already tried to establish a 
colony in Newfoundland, and had spent much money 
in the attempt. 

3. It seems strange to us now, that Englishmen 
should have chosen such a country as Newfoundland, 
with its long winters and short summers, when there 
were pleasanter lands to the southward. But the eariy 
travelers to the New Wo rid shut their eyes to much that 
was disagreeable. Each new discoverer persuaded him- 
self that he had found a more wonderful part of the 
country than had been known before, and each tried to 
tell a finer story than the last. 

4. Calvert knew that Newfoundland was in the same 
latitude as France, but he did not know anything about 
the Gulf Stream. It had not then been learned that a 
river of warm salt water flowed through the Atlantic 
Ocean, and swept along the northwest coast of Europe, 
making It warmer there than in the same latitude in 
America. 

5. When he went to Newfoundland, however, with his 
family, and with additions to his colony, he discovered 



68 MARYLAND AND VIRGINIA. 

that it was no place for them. The French who were 
near by fell upon his colony, and there were fights at 
sea between the French and the English ; worse than that 
were the bitter cold and the long winters. 

6. Calvert, therefore, abandoned Newfoundland, and 
applied to the king for land farther south. He still 
meant to plant a colony in America. The king made 
the grant, but Calvert died before he could receive it. 
His son, Cecilius, who now became Lord Baltimore, re- 
ceived the charter, and the country was named Mary- 
land from the king's wife, Henrietta Maria. 

7. Lord Baltimore remained in England, but he sent 
out a colony under his brother, Leonard Calvert. For 
nearly a hundred and fifty years the Calvert family con- 
tinued to hold Maryland. They governed it either in 
person, or by some agent whom they appointed. They 
were constantly seeking the good of the people, and that 
is one reason why they continued so long in power. 

8. One of the most important acts in Maryland was 
that by which the people were free to follow whatever 
form of religion seemed best to them. While other 
colonies attempted to decide which should be the 
prevailing religion, Maryland set the example of not 
interfering with the choice the colonists might make. 

9. One reason for this was that the Calverts were 
Eoman Catholics, and thus liable to be interfered with. 
They desired that persons of their Church should have 
a right to their own ways in Maryland ; therefore, they 
gave to others the same rights. This did not prevent 
quarrels, however. Few had yet learned to be as just 
and generous in religion as the Calverts were. 

10. Maryland was neighbor to Virginia, and there 
was a long dispute between the two colonies about their 




John Jay. 

Born December i, 1745 , died May 17, 1829. 

First Chief Justice of the United Stsiej: Supreme Couri. 



TO MARYLAND AND VIRGINIA. 

boundary. The land occupied by both was very much 
the same in kind. It was fertile land, broken into by 
broad bays and rivers. There was not much difference, 
therefore, in ways of living in the two colonies. 

11. The most profitable crop was tobacco, and negro 
slaves cultivated it. The planters lived for the most 
part on the banks of the bays and rivers. They built 
roomy, generous houses for themselves, and surrounded 
these houses with groups of cabins for their slaves. 

12. The planter had a wharf, and loaded a ship with 
his tobacco, to be sold in London. When the ship 
came back, it brought him goods which his tobacco had 
bought. There were clothes for himself and his family ; 
sugar and coffee, and tea and wines for his table ; fur- 
niture of the better sort for his house, and linen, with 
any luxuries he might desire. 

13. It was easy to supply the table of a Maryland 
or Virginia planter. Besides the vegetables which his 
garden afforded, there were deer and wild turkeys in the 
forests ; the bays and rivers were stocked with a great 
variety of fish and shell-fish. Wheat-bread was not much 
used, but corn-cake and hominy were on every table. 

14. The houses of the better class were often built of 
brick. Sometimes the bricks were brought from Eng- 
land ; oftener they were made from clay dug in the 
neighborhood. There were not many carriage roads 
between the plantations, but there were plenty of horses 
and saddles ; and every planter by the water had boats, 
for the water made it easy to get from one plantation to 
another. 

15. For a long time it was not thought worth while 
to raise anytliing but tobacco ; but, in Maryland, they 
began to raise wheat and Indian corn. Smaller farms 



THE CAROLINAS. 71 

were formed in the interior. Some of the planters no 
longer lived by deep water. Instead of having ships 
come to wharves near their houses, these planters had 
to carry their tobacco and corn to market. 

16. Then, since they had to sell in their own country, 
there were merchants to buy, who sold them other goods 
in return. Thus towns were formed, where there were 
good harbors, or where the court-houses stood. But, to 
this day there is only one large city in Maryland, and 
there are only nine towns in Virginia which have a 
population of more than ten thousand each. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

THE CAROLINAS. 

1. Far to the south of Virginia, there were a few 
Spanish settlements in Florida, but the country between 
received new settlers slowly. There is a long stretch 
of sea-coast sheltered by islands, which make sounds 
and bays of quiet water. 

2. At two points on the coast small settlements were 
early made. Some Virginians found their way to the 
River Chowan, and a* few persons from the Barbadoos 
Islands came across to Cape Fear. There was good 
lumber to be had, and tar, turpentine, and fish. They 
could raise tobacco, also. 

3. The New Englanders had once formed a settle- 
ment near Cape Fear River, but had given it up. Their 
captains, however, knew the waters of the sounds, and 
now they came down in coasting-vessels and traded with 
the people. They bought their lumber and cattle, and 
carried them across to the West Indies. 



72 THE CAROLINAS. 

4. Then, in the West India Islands, they bought what 
used to be called West India goods and groceries, that 
is, molasses, sugar, spices, and the like. These, with 
salt, they sold to the people in Nortli Carolina, and 
then loaded their ships with tobacco to carry to New 
England. 

5. Not long after these settlements were formed. 
King Charles, with one of his easy, good-natured, royal 
strokes of the pen, gave the country included in what 
is now North and South Carolina to a company of 
gentlemen. 

6. These proprietors, as they were called, were too 
far away to know much of the country. They appointed 
governors, and after a while the king assumed control 
over the colonies, and he appointed governors ; but the 
people meanwhile had their assemblies, and gradually 
they became the real rulers of the country. 

7. A few years after the formation of the two princi- 
pal settlements in the northern part of the Carolinas, 
a third was formed in the southern part, and became, 
finally, the city of Charleston. The whole region was 
now divided into North Carolina and South Carolina, 
with a governor and assembly for each. 

8. Into both of the colonies came new parties of emi- 
grants from Europe. There were French Protestants, 
called Huguenots, Germans, Swiss, and a great many 
families from Scotland and the north of Ireland. 

9. The chief product of South Carolina was rice, and 
slaves were employed to cultivate it. The life was 
somewhat like that of Virginia ; that is, there were 
rich planting families with plenty of leisure, since the 
slaves were doing the work. But there was a difference 
in the fact that South Carolina had a beautiful city. 



OGLETHORPE AND GEORGIA. 73 

10. For the planters did not ship the rice from their 
wharves to England, as the Maryland and Virginia 
planters did their tobacco. They sent it to Charleston, 
and merchants carried on the business for them. In 
this way the commerce of Charleston became important^ 
and the city grew large and rich. 

11. It was a pleasant place to live in, and many plant- 
ers made their homes there, while their plantations were 
carried on in the country by agents. Thus there came 
to be a small class of well-to-do families, Avho lived near 
one another and managed South Carolina after their own 
liking. 

CHAPTER XXII. 

OGLETHORPE AND GEORGIA. 

1. When King George II. was on the throne of Eng- 
land, English people were well used to hearing the name 
America. For more than a hundred years, men and 
women had been leaving their homes in England and 
settling in the new country. 

2. It was usually the restless, or the resolute, people 
who thus crossed the Atlantic. There were always 
those who felt crowded at home and wanted more room, 
or those who were full of enterprise, or those who were 
dissatisfied with the Church and government and wished 
to go where they could be more free. From time to 
time, also, companies had helped the poor to emigrate 
to the New World. 

3. In the days of George II. and, indeed, for many 
years after, the laws of England were very severe 
toward persons who could not pay their debts. To be 
in debt is a misfortune, but it is not always a crime. 



f4 OGLETHORPE ANB GEORGIA. 

In England, in those days, it was treated as a crime. 
People were shut up in prison for debt. 

4. Tlie longer they stayed in prison the more impos- 
sible it was for them to pay their debts. Meanwhile 
their families were worse off than ever. Thus there 
was a great deal of wretchedness among persons who 
were really honest, and anxious to provide for them- 
selves. 

5. Besides this, persons were shut up in prison for 
very small faults, and the prisons were distressful 
places, unfit for any one to live in. The ofhcers in 
charge, too, were often harsh and cruel. Wise men 
shook their heads, and said that something must be done 
to cure this evil. 

6. There was a man in England, at this time, who set 
himself to work to help matters. This was James 
Oglethorpe, an officer in the English army and a mem- 
ber of Parliament. He joined to himself other men 
of like mind, and together they formed a plan for a 
colony in America. 

7. The king granted to them so much of America as 
lay between the Savannal; River and the Spanish pos- 
sessions in Florida. This was good news to the people 
of South Carolina, for they were greatly troubled by the 
Spaniards, and settlements of English on their southern 
border would be a protection to them. 

8. The Trustees for Georgia, as they were called, with 
Oglethorpe at their head, made careful choice of needy 
persons in England, and sent them out to tlie new 
colony. They also invited some Germans, who were 
persecuted in their own country, to settle in Geor- 
gia. They sent over, besides, some Highlanders from 
Scotland. 



OGLETHORPE AND GEORGIA. 75 

9. Oglethorpe was very desirous that the people 
should have a variety of occupations. He thought it 
would be a fine thing if they were to have silk-worms. 
So he planted mulberry-trees, and brought over Ital- 
ians who were used to raising silk-worms. Olives 
were planted, and it was hoped that Georgia would 
become another Italy ; but it was found more profitable 
to raise rice and cotton. 

10. The Trustees forbade rum to be brought into the 
country, and for a long time they refused to allow negro 
slavery. But there were slaves in the neighboring 
colony, and, little by little, , slavery became established 
in Georgia. Oglethorpe treated the Indians much as 
Penn did those in Pennsylvania. He made friends 
with them, and for many years there was scarcely any 
trouble between the Indians and the whites. 

11. But trouble came from the Spaniards. For a long 
time Spanish pirates had seized English vessels, and 
now the Spaniards began to attack the settlements in 
Georgia. Oglethorpe received orders from England to 
carry on war against Spain in Florida. He made sev- 
eral raids upon the Spanish settlements, but the most 
important struggle came from the attempt of the Span- 
iards to destroy Georgia. 

12. They gathered a great fleet at Havana, in Cuba, 
and came with more than five thousand men. Ogle- 
thorpe had sent to South Carolina for help, for he had 
only about seven hundred men. He did not wait for 
more soldiers, however, but attacked the enemy, and 
fought so bravely that he drove back the first who 
appeared. He contrived also to let the Spaniards know 
that he was expecting more men. The Spaniards, 
discouraged by the first encounter, and ignorant of 



76 THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

Oglethorpe's real weakness, took alarm and sailed 
away. After that, Georgia was at peace. 

13. It proved impossible for trustees living in Eng- 
land to govern Georgia wisely. General Oglethorpe, 
who had lived in the country during its most trying 
time, had been the real founder. Twenty-one years after 
it was founded, Georgia came of age. It was no longer 
under the guardianship of trustees. It had an assembly 
chosen by the people, and a governor appointed by the 
king. Oglethorpe went back to England, where he died 
when he lacked only three years of being a hundred 
years old. 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 

1. While the Spaniards were troubling the English 
colonies on the south, a more dangerous enemy was 
close at hand on the north and west. For a hundred 
and fifty years the English had been forming colonies 
in America ; during the same time the French had also 
been taking possession of the country. 

2. The English followed the sea-coast, and the Con- 
necticut, Hudson, Delaware, James, and Savannah rivers. 
Behind their settlements stretched a long, broken range 
of mountains. Thus it was a strip of sea-coast which 
they occupied with thirteen colonies. 

3. Each of these colonies was governed much as Eng- 
land itself was governed ; that is, each had a governor 
who ruled in the place of the king, and each had an 
assembly chosen by the people to make the laws. The 
law of England was the law of the colonies. Moreover, 
the colonies made many laws which concerned the 



THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA. 77 

affairs of the people in America and had little or nothing 
to do with England. But the people called themselves 
English people, and they called the king of England 
their king. 

4. In fact, these colonies were like pieces of England, 
which had been broken off and started anew on the 
other side of the Atlantic. Of course, since the country 
was so different and everything so new, the people had 
many customs and ways of living of their own. Still, 
they were English. 

5. The colonies, however, had not a great deal to do 
with one another. The people did not travel much. 
There were few good roads, except near the large 
towns. The stages took a long time for their journeys, 
and letters which now pass quickly in a night might 
then be a month on the road. It was before the days 
of steamboats and railroads. 

6. The planters in the south lived on .their planta- 
tions, and rarely left them, except to visit their neighbors 
or to go to the capital of their colony. Sometimes they 
sent their sons to England to be educated. At the north, 
the farmers saw few persons but their near neighbors. 

7. There were a few small towns on the sea-coast, 
like Charleston, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, 
Newport, and Boston. These were busy with trade 
and fisheries. A great many vessels plied back and 
forth between these ports and the West Indies and 
England. 

8. In these towns, too, lived the officers of the Eng- 
lish government, the custom-house officers, and tax- 
collectors. Rich merchants kept up English ways, and 
every one was eager to know what was going on in 
England and on the continent of Europe. The few 



78 THE FKENCH IN AMERICA. 

newspapers were filled chiefly with the news brought 
by sea-captains from across the water. 

9. At the back of these colonies, lines of farms 
stretched toward the Alleghanies and the Blue Ridge. 
As the land near the sea-coast was taken up, families 
would move farther into the wilderness. Solitary clear- 
higs might be found, miles away from any other house. 
Here some adventurous man was living with his family, 
raising a little corn and hunting in the woods. 

10. All the colonies were alike in this, that they were 
dotted over with homes. Families grew up, and the 
sons and daughters needed more land. Farms multi- 
plied and towns clustered. The people sent to their 
friends in England, and invited them to come and join 
them in the New World. The colonies were alike in 
this, too, that the people were accustomed to meet to- 
gether to manage the affairs of the town, the county 
and the colony. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

THE FRENCH IN AMERICA. 

1. The French, meanwhile, were following the courscy 
of the two great rivers of North America, the St. Law- 
rence and the Mississippi. As they followed the St. Law- 
rence they came to the Great Lakes. When they traced 
the Mississippi from the lakes to the Gulf, they explored 
also the rivers, like the Ohio, the Wisconsin, and the 
Illinois, which flowed into the Mississippi River, the 
great " Father of Waters." 

2. Thus the French had traveled over a great deal 
more of North America than the English had. They 



THE FRENCH IN AMERICA. 79 

claimed very much more of the country, but they did 
not occupy their possessions in the same way as the 
English. Instead of having colonies where families were 
building homes, clearing forests, and planting farms, the 
French had a few forts and trading-posts and mission 
stations. 

3. These were scattered, at wide intervals, through the 
vast interior of North America. They were reached by 
long journeys on rivers, or by trails through the forest. 
At each was usually a chapel, where the missionary 
gathered the Indians and the French soldiers ; a store- 
house where the traders kept the goods which they sold 
the Indians for furs ; and barracks for the company of 
soldiers. 

4. Now and then some trader, who spent most of his 
time at one of these stations, would have a garden in 
which he raised a few vegetables. Perhaps he married 
an Indian woman, and his children, as they grew, hunted 
and fished like the Indians about them, or went trading 
like their father. 

5. The fur-trade led the hunters into the depths of 
the wilderness, and the wild, free life tempted the young 
Frenchmen who came to America. They disliked the 
restraints of the town and the station, and they plunged 
into the woods, lived with the Indians, and only came 
back at intervals to the settlements. 

6. These wood-rangers increased in numbers, and 
made an important part of the population. Half Indian, 
half French, they plied their canoes on the rivers, sing- 
mg as they shot along ; they trapped and hunted their 
prey, and after working hard all day, camped at night 
round the blazing fire, with nothing to eat, perhaps, but 
hulled corn and bear's-grease. 



80 



THE FRENCH IN AMERICA. 



7. The principal military station was at Quebec. There 
lived the governor of New France. The great rock of 
Quebec was well fortified. French ships rode at anchor 
in the harbor. The priests and nuns had hospitals and 
churches, and under the protection of the citadel some few 
French families had farms on the River St. Lawrence. 




The Rock of Quebec. 

8. The people had nothing to do with making laws. 
They had no assemblies, and held no public meetings. 
Their governor was sent out from France, and he was 
supported by soldiers. France wanted this new land 
mainly for the sake of the furs which her traders 
obtained from the Indians. 

9. While, therefore, the English colonies were growing 
by pushing their farms farther and farther into the wil- 
derness. New France simply added a fort here and 
there. While English families were multiplying and 
forming neighborhoods, very few people came from 
France except soldiers, and single men who were seek- 
iug their fortune. 



THE INDIAN TRIBES. 81 

CHAPTER XXV. 

THE INDIAN TRIBES. 

1. The Indians looked on, as Englishmen and French- 
men divided the land between them. They did not at 
first mind the French very mucli, for they saw that 
these new-comers only wanted to trade with them. 
Besides, the lively Frenchmen were quick to adapt 
themselves to the ways of the Indians, and lived with 
them, and married into the tribes. 

2. The French priests were untiring in their efforts to 
win the Indians to Christianity. They forsook comforts 
and society, and lived in solitary places. They suffered 
hardship, and were even more courageous in the face 
of death than the Indian himself. 

3. It was of no great consequence to the Indians that 
they saw the French soldiers set up crosses, fasten the 
arms of France upon them, and take possession of the 
land in the name of the king. The Indians were ready 
to call the king of France their father, if he would send 
out soldiers to help them fight their enemies. 

4. They were more jealous of the English, for they 
saw that as fast as the country was occupied by farms, 
there was no longer room for the Indian. Besides, the 
English often could not make friends wdth the red men ; 
they were too unlike them. 

5. The French found that the Indian tribes were not 
at peace with one another ; they therefore made friends 
with one tribe by going to war with it against its ene- 
mies. The Indians also saw that the French and Eng- 
lish were jealous of each other, and were often at war 



82 THE FIGHT FOR AMERICA. 

They soon began to take sides with one or the other 
nation. 

6. Thus ifc came about that the unhappy Indian was 
crushed between the two powers. The French urged 
the Indians to attack the English settlements ; the 
English used them when they tried to get possession 
of the French forts. The fighting was chiefly on' the 
frontier, where the English and French were near each 
other. Sometimes there was fighting in America when 
England and France were at peace in Europe. 

7. There came a time, however, when England and 
France were at deadly war with each other. The chief 
question to be settled by this war was, whether the con- 
tinent of North America was to be under the control of 
the English, or under that of the French. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

THE FIGHT FOR AMERICA. 

1. When the war finally broke out between France 
and England, which was to decide the ownership of 
America, the French held certain strongholds. One was 
Louisburg, at the entrance of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 
It was strongly fortified, had a good harbor, and was 
close by the great fishing-grounds. Thus it was a very 
important place. 

2. Besides, the French held Quebec. This great rock 
had a cluster of houses at its base, and was protected 
at its top by cannon. The French felt very secure upon 
it, because it seemed impossible for any enemy to cap- 
ture it. A very few men could keep a great army from 
climbing its steep sides. 



THE FIGHT FOR AMERICA. 



83 



3. At different points 
along the St. Lawrence, 
and on the shores of the 
Great Lakes, the French 
had other fortified places. 
Moreover, they had estab- 
lished a line of forts from 
Lake Erie to the Ohio 
River. The last of these 
forts was built where the 
city of Pittsburgh now 
stands. It was called Fort 
Duquesne. 

4. In previous wars, the 
English had obtained pos- 
session of Nova Scotia, or 
Acadia, as it was then 
called. They had made 
settlements at Halifax and 
other places, but they had 
not disturbed the French 
who were living on their 
farms. These farms were 
chiefly upon that part of 
Nova Scotia which is near- 
est New Brunswick. 

6. When the English, 
therefore, began to attack 
the French, they aimed to 
get possession of the forts. 
The French, on the other 
hand, used these forts, at 
the head of the Bay of 



MAP OF THE COUNTRY C^'^^/./| 

BETWEEN 

MONTREAL AND KEW YORK 

' Sralp ^- , ^ .M il. 




'j^°//ni' -^ >.[ "^ V 




^\ / . f.'t r 1 nL^f" quG 



84 



THE FIGHT rUR AMEKICA. 



Fundy, as places from which to sally forth and attack 
the English towns and settlements. 

6. The French had no such 
navy as the English possessed, 
and therefore they could not sail 
out from Louisburg and attack 
Boston ; but they could use canoes 
and fiat-boats on the rivers and 
lakes, and they could call upon 
Indians to pilot them through the 
woods. 

7. There were two great water- 
courses, which led from the 
French posts into the heart of the 
English settlements. One was 
the Mohawk River, eastward 
from Lake Ontario ; the other 
was Lake Champlain and Lake 
George to the head-waters ol 
the Hudson River. By either 

of these ways the 
French could reach 
Albany. From Al- 
bany they could go 
cither down the riv- 
er to New York, or 
eastward into New 
England. 

8. The first fight- 
ing was about Fort Duquesne. When the governor of 
Virginia heard that the French had begun to build a 
fort in what was then called a part of Virginia, he sent a 
young soldier whom he trusted, to look into the matter. 




A 






Braddock's Route. 



THE FRENCH LOSE AMERICA. 85 

9. This young Yirginian was George Washington, 
whose name in a few years was to be known over all 
the world. Washington made a perilous journey, and 
brought back such news as made the Virginians deter- 
mined to drive the French out of their country. 

10. England, at that time, did not have much confi- 
dence in the soldiers of the colonies. They were only 
farmers, she said, who had never been trained to fight. 
So she sent over regiments of soldiers, and generals who 
had been in the European wars. 

11. One of these, General Braddock, led an army 
through the woods and over the mountains to drive 
the French from the banks of the Ohio. George 
Washington went with him, and warned him that the 
Indians and the French would fight in a different fash- 
ion from that to which English soldiers were accustomed 
in Europe. 

12. Braddock did not pay much heed to the warning. 
As a consequence, his army was suddenly attacked when 
near the fort, and completely put to flight. Braddock 
was killed, and Washington narrowly escaped death 
Two horses were killed under him, and his clothes 
were torn by bullets. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

THE FRENCH LOSE AMERICA. 

1. While the war was thus going on in the wilds 
of Virginia, the English were at work in a different 
manner in Acadia. The settlements about Halifax 
were in constant peril. Among the French in Acadia 
were a few men, who were determined to drive out the 



86 THE FRENCH LOSE AMERICA. 

English. They stirred up the Acadian farmers aa«j 
the Indians, and kept the English colony in a state 
of constant alarm. 

2. In vain the English showed that, by treaties with 
France, all of Acadia was under English law. In vain 
they ordered the French inhabitants to take an oath 
that they were English subjects. At last they took 
severer measures 




G VLF OF S T. LA WRENCH 



a A 



)-, ^ / K^ ST. JOHN'S I. 

SLE'^ <c J;/ROYALE 



1 -^ i ^^s, o I . vj Vwi n IN J \, 

S O, (Pk. E D W ,^D I. j-^ 






t, I ^ i • s^ A, SABLE 1. 

C.Sable F O 



Map of Acadia. 

3. They ordered the French inhabitants to meet in 
the churches of the several villages to hear a proclama- 
tion read. When the churches were filled, the English 
suddenly closed the doors and surrounded the buildings 
with soldiers. They took all the people prisoners, and 
then, collecting a fleet of vessels, sent them away out 



THE FRENCH LOSE AMERICA. 87 

of Acadia. They scattered the French among the Eng- 
Ush colonies along the Atlantic coast. 

4. By this violent means Acadia was made peace- 
able for the English colony there, but great misery 
was brought upon the French families. Some of them 
were separated, husband from wife, and children from 
parents. They were driven from homes and ways to 
which they were wonted, and were forced to make 
new homes among a strange people. It was about 
such a separation that Longfellow wrote, in his poem 
of " Evangeline." 

5. For the first three years of the war, the French 
were more successful than the English. They were sol- 
diers trained to fight, while many in the colonial armies 
were farmers, who could handle a rifle, but had little 
training as soldiers. Besides, the officers sent over from 
England were often merely persons who happened to be 
favorites of the government, but had no real ability. 
The regular soldiers, too, looked down on the colonial 
troops. 

6. At last England awoke. The king had a new 
prime minister, William Pitt, a man of great energy, 
foresight, and daring. He thrust aside the stupid gen- 
erals who had been blundering in ximerica, and ap- 
pointed abler men. He called the colonies to his aid. 
They should raise companies and choose their own 
officers. He sent great quantities of arms and mili- 
tary stores across the Atlantic, and equipped a large 
fleet. 

7. The French, on the other hand, had spent their 
strength. The king of France was wasting his money 
in pleasure and selfishness. Canada was in the hands 
of men who plundered the country to make themselves 



88 



THE FRENCH LOSE AMERICA. 



rich. The war had exhausted the people. There were, 
however, some brave men at the head of the French 
army, and chief among them was Montcahn. 

8. The English now put forth all their strength. 
They laid siege to Louisburg, and captured that famous 

fortress. They took 
the fort where Brad- 
dock was defeated, 
and renamed it Fort 
Pitt. They captured 
Fort IS^iagara and 
other western forts, 
and they drove the 
French northward 
from Lake George 
and Lake 
plain. 

9. Their 
anxiety was about 
Quebec. An army 
and a fleet ajDpeared 
before the citadel, 
and hammered away 
at it, but to no pur- 
pose. Then General 
Wolfe, who was in command of the English, led his 
men by night to a cove in the rear of the rock. They 
surprised the sentinels, climbed the steep mountain- 
side, and in the morning, the English army was 
drawn up on the Plains of Abraham behind the 
town. 

10. Here a battle was fought, in which the English 
were victorious. Both Montcalm and AYolfe were killed. 




Cham- 



greatest 



Wolfe's Cove. 



BOYHOOD OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 89 

There was some fighting afterward, but this battle, 
fought September 13, 1759, was decisive. When the 
war ended, the French gave up to England all of 
America east of the Mississippi River, except two 
little islands near Newfoundland, and except, also. New 
Orleans and the district about it. The country west 
of the Mississippi as far as to the Rocky Mountains, 
then known as the Province of Louisiana, they sold 
to Spain. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

BOYHOOD OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 

1. When the war was over, Great Britain and hei* 
colonies formed the most powerful nation in the world. 
England, though but an island broken off from the rest 
of Europe, held sway over all of North America east of 
the Mississippi River. She had begun also to establish 
her rule in India. 

2. The people in the American colonies, though scat- 
tered over a wide country, had one feeling in com- 
mon, — they were proud of being Englishmen. The war 
had brought together men from different colonies, who 
had fought side by side. To have a common enemy 
sometimes makes people firmer friends. 

3. Near the beginning of the war there had been a 
meeting, at Albany, of men sent from the different 
colonies to consider the best way of resisting the 
French. There was one man present who was confi- 
dent that the surest way of making the colonies stron 
was to unite them; that the thirteen distinct colonif 
should form some kind of a union. 



DO 



BOYHOOD OF BENJAMIN FRANIvLIN. 



4. This man was the most famous American of his 
time ; and it is worth while to interrupt our story of the 
American nation, to become acquainted with the history 
of one, who had a great deal to do with making the 
nation what it afterward became. 

5. Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston in 1706. 
His father, who made soap and candles, had seventeen 

children, and as fast '^ 
as his sons were old 
enough, he bound 
them out as appren- 
tices, — that is, each 
boy was set to work 
learning a trade ; 
while he was learning 
it, the tradesman to 
whom he was bound 
must shelter, clothe, 
and feed him. At 
first, of course, the 
boy was an expense 
to his master and of 
very little service ; 
as he grew older he was more useful, and if he was a 
bright and diligent boy, he was able, at the end of a 
term of years, to set up for himself and earn his own 
living. 

6. This was the most common way for a boy to 
learn a trade, down to the time, in this century, when 
machinery and steam began to make a great difference 
in the modes of carrying on trades. There are still 
apprentices in some places, but there are also springing 
up shops for teaching boys how to use tools. 




Birthplace of Franklin. 



BOYHOOD OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 91 

7. Franklin's father had ten sons, and he bound out 
nine ; but when he came to the tenth, Benjamin, he said 
to himself, " This boy reads more easily than the others; 
1 will send him to school instead, and make a minister 
of him." 

8. There were two kinds of schools in those days, 
— one, called a grammar school, where boys studied 
Latin, to prepare them for college ; the other, called 
a writing school, where they studied arithmetic and 
writing, to prepare them for keeping accounts and 
doing business. 

9. Benjamin was sent first to a grammar school, and 
quickly made his way to the top; but his father was 
frightened, when he found how much it would cost to 
send him to school and college, and changed his mind. 
He sent the boy to a writing school, and presently took 
him out of school altogether, and kept him at work in 
his shop. 

10. Here Benjamin stayed for two years, cutting wick 
for candles, filling the molds with tallow, attending 
shop, and running errands. He did not at all like the 
work, and would gladly have gone to sea. Boston waa 
then only a large village on the edge of the water, and 
all the boys learned to swim and manage boats. 

11. "I was generally a leader among the boys," Frank- 
lin tells us in his Autobiography, " and sometimes led 
them into scrapes, of which I will mention one in- 
stance, as it shows an early projecting public spirit, 
though not then justly conducted. There was a salt 
marsh that bounded part of the mill-pond, on the 
edge of which, at high water, we used to stand to fish 
for minnows. By much trampling, we had made it a 
mere quagmire. 



92 BOYHOOD OF BENJAMIN ERANKLIN. 

12. " My proposal was to build a wharf there fit for us 
to stand upon, and I showed my comrades a large heap 
of stones, which were intended for a new house near 
the marsh, and which would very well suit our purpose. 
Accordingly, in the evening, when the workmen were 
gone, I assembled a number of my playfellows, and 
working with them diligently, like so many emmets, 
sometimes two or three to a stone, we brought them 
all away and built our little wharf. 

13. " The next morning the workmen were surprised 
at missing the stones, which were found in our wharf. 
Inquiry was made after the removers ; we were dis- 
covered and complained of; several of us were corrected 
by our fathers ; and though I pleaded the usefulness of 
the work, mine convinced me that nothing was useful 
which was not honest." 

14. The longer he had to work at candle-making, the 
more Benjamin disliked it. An older brother had run 
away to sea, and so Franklin's father, fearing Benjamin 
would do the same, cast about for some other trade for 
him. He took the boy on walks about the town, and 
showed him men at work, — carpenters, bricklayers, 
workers in brass, and others, to see what he would 
like best to do. 

15. In this way Benjamin picked up a good deal 
of useful knowledge, for he had a quick eye and a 
strong memory. But he liked his books better than 
anything else, and so his father decided to make a 
printer of him. James Franklin, one of the older sons, 
just then returned from England with a printing-press 
and some type, to set up in business in Boston, and 
Benjamin was apprenticed to him. 

16. Benjamin was twelve years old at the time, and 



BOYHOOD OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 93 

lie was to serve as an apprentice until he should be 
twenty-one. " I now had access," he says, " to bet- 
ter books. An acquaintance with the apprentices of 
booksellers enabled me sometimes to borrow a small 
one, which I was careful to return soon, and clean. 
Often I sat up in my room reading the greatest part of 
the night, when the book was borrowed in the evening 
and to be returned early in the morning, lest it should 
be missed or wanted." 

17. Years afterward, Franklin saw how useful it would 
be if several persons should put their separate stocks of 
books together, so that each could have access to the 
whole collection. Accordingly he started a library with 
some friends, and that was really the beginning of the 
great public libraries of America. 

18. Now, too, he began to put his thoughts into 
writing. He fell in with a famous English book called 
the " Spectator," and was so pleased with the way it 
was written, that he tried to write in the same way. 
He would jot down a few words from a sentence, just 
enough to remind him what the sentence was about, 
and then put the book away. A few days after, he 
would try to make the sentence himself. Then he 
would compare his sentence with that in the book, 
and see what his faults were. 

19. When he was fourteen or fifteen years old, his 
brother started a newspaper. Franklin heard his brother's 
friends talk about the pieces which they wrote for the 
paper, and he thought he would try his hand. He knew 
his brother would not think much of an article written 
by a boy, so he disguised his handwriting and slipped 
his piece under the door of the printing-office. 

20. He was greatly pleased to hear his brother and 



94 BOYHOOD OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 

friends talk about this piece, and praise it. He wrote 
more pieces, and they were all printed, but no one knew 
who had written them. Pretty soon Franklin had said 
all he could think of, and then he told what he had 
done. His brother was not altogether pleased. He 
thought the boy, who was only his apprentice, was 
putting on airs. 

21. The two brothers did not agree very well, and 
Benjamin Franklin was eager to be rid of being an 
apprentice. He did not see how this was to be done, 
when ^^uddenly the chance came, and in a somewhat odd 
manner. 

22. The newspapers at that time had to be very care- 
ful what they printed. They had not the freedom they 
now have, and if a newspaper said what displeased the 
government, the government often forbade it to be con- 
tinued. It happened that one orf the writers for James 
Franklin's paper, " The New England Courant," wrote 
an article which gave offense. As a consequence, the 
Massachusetts government ordered that "James Franklin 
should no longer print the paper called ' The New Eng- 
land Courant.' " 

23. Of course James Franklin and his friends were 
all the more determined to keep up the paper. They 
talked over plans, and finally agreed that the paper 
should come out under Benjamin Franklin's name. But 
they knew that the government would consider James 
Franklin's apprentice the same as James Franklin 
himself. 

24. So it was arranged that James should release 
Benjamin from being an apprentice ; then if fault was 
found, they could show Benjamin's apprentice-agreement 
with the release written upon it. At the same time a 



FRANKLIN'S MANHOOD. 95 

new set of papers was to be made out, so that Benjamin 
would continue to serve his brother, but these papers 
were to be kept secret. 

25. All went well for a time ; but at last James 
Franklin treated Benjamin roughly, and the boy said 
he would no longer serve him. He was free ; he had 
his discharge, and he meant to go elsewhere. He knew 
very well that his brother would not dare show the new 
paper. " It was not fair in me to take this advantage," 
said Franklin ; but he was angry, and tired of the life he 
had been leading. 

26. He sold some of his books, and raised enough 
money to pay his passage on a sloop to New York, and 
there he found himself, as he says, " near three hundred 
miles from home, a boy of but seventeen, without the 
least recommendation to, or knowledge of, any person in 
the place, and with very little money in my pocket." 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

FRANKLIN'S MANHOOD. 

1. When Franklin left his home in Boston, he no 
longer cared much to go to sea. He had learned his 
trade, and could get his living by that. He went to the 
only printer in New York, and asked for work. This man 
had no place for him, but said he knew of a place in 
Philadelphia, and advised him to go there. 

2. A journey from New York to Philadelphia was a 
very different matter then from what it is now. Franklin 
set out in a sail-boat for Amboy. A squall came up, and 
the boat was driven upon Long Island. There they lay 



96 FRANKLIN'S MANHOOD. 

all night, but the next day made out to reach Amboy, 
having been thirty hours making the passage. 

3. At Amboy, Franklin spent the night, and the next 
morning was ferried across the Raritan River. He had 
fifty miles to walk, to Burlington on the Delaware River, 
and he was more than two days getting over the ground. 
He had left New York on Tuesday, and it was now Sat- 
urday. The regular boat was not to leave till Tuesday 
of the next week ; but, as he was walking by the river 
in the evening, a boat came by, from some point farther 
up, on its way to Philadelphia. 

4. Franklin joined this party, and, as there was no 
wind, they had to row all the way. It was dark, and 
they could not tell where they were at midnight. Some 
thought they had gone beyond Philadelphia, some that 
they had not reached it. So they pulled to the shore, 
found a creek up which they rowed, and landed near an 
old fence. They made a fire, for it was cold, and waited 
for daylight. When they rowed down the creek again, 
there was Philadelphia just below them. 

5. The printer-boy, in a rough working-dress, stepped 
on shore, in a city which he was to make famous. He 
had a little money in his pocket, and he was very hungry 
He found a baker's shop, and with three pennies bought 
three great rolls of bread. "Having no room in my 
pockets," he says, " I walked off with a roll under each 
arm, and eating the other. Thus I went up Market 
Street, as far as Fourth Street, passing by the house 
of Mr. Read, my future wife's father, when she, 
standing at the door, saw me, and thought I made, 
as I certainly did, a most awkward, ridiculous ap- 
pearance." 

6. A young man, who has learned a good trade, is 




Benjamin Franklin, Philosopher. 

Born January 6, 1706; died April 17, 1790. 



98 FRANKLIN'S MANHOOD. 

seldom at a loss for employment, and Franklin was soon 
busy, setting type. He made friends easily, and the gov- 
ernor of the province, who was a good-natured man and 
made promises readily, told him that if he would set up 
in business for himself in Philadelphia, he would give 
him the public business. 

7. At this, Franklin, who had now saved a little 
money, took passage on a sloop for Boston, to see his 
father and the rest of the family. He was a fortnight 
on the voyage, and was very gladly received at home, 
for no one knew what had become of him. His brother 
James, however, was not very cordial. 

8. Franklin's father gave him some good advice, and 
made him some promises, but he had little to spare in 
the way of money. He forgave him for running away, 
however, and sent him back to Philadelphia. The gov- 
ernor still had fair words, and proposed that he should 
go to London to buy a printing-press and type. He 
would give him letters, he said, which would enable 
him to buy what he needed. 

9. Franklin was a cheerful fellow, with a good deal of 
faith in other persons, and when the ship, which sailed 
once a year from Philadelphia to London, next made 
her voyage, he went as passenger. The governor had 
not given him the promised letters, but kept putting 
him off with excuses, until the vessel sailed. 

10. In London, as in Philadelphia, Franklin worked at 
his trade of printing. He made acquaintances, read a 
great many books, and saved some money ; but, at the 
end of eighteen months, he had an offer from a friend 
to go back to Philadelphia as a clerk in his store, and, 
as he liked Pennsylvania better than England, he was 
glad to go. 



FRANKLIN'S MANHOOD. 99 

11. His friend's business was with the West Indies, 
and Franklin expected to go to the Islands in charge of 
cargoes ; but his friend died shortly, and Franklin once 
more took up the printing-trade. He went back to his 
old employer ; but he had now worked so diligently, and 
read so much, and seen so much of the world, that he 
was a better printer than his master. 

12. So, in a few months, in company with another 
young man^ he set up a printing-office of his own. He 
was then twenty-two years of age, with little money, but 
with such a good name for industry and sense, that 
shrewd observers were sure he would succeed. Some 
merchants were saying that there was no room for 
another printer ; but a doctor who was standing by said 
ho thought otherwise : " For the industry of that Franklin 
is superior to anything I ever saw of the kind ; I see 
him still at work when I go home from my club, and he 
is at work again before his neighbors are out of bed." 

13. There was only one newspaper in Philadelphia. 
It was a poor thing, but it earned money for the printer, 
and, as soon as he could, Franklin started another. He 
printed it from better type, and his self-training as a 
writer enabled him to make his paper worth reading. 

14. He married when he was twenty-four, and as he 
was now in business for himself, his wife became his 
partner. " She assisted me cheerfully," he says, " in 
my business, folding and stitching pamphlets, tending 
shop, purchasing old linen rags for the paper-makers, 
etc. We kept no idle servants, our table was plain and 
simple, our furniture of the cheapest. For instance, my 
breakfast was a long time bread and milk (no tea), and 
I ate it out of a twopenny earthen porringer, with a 
pewter spoon. 

L.rc. 



100 franklin's manhood. 

15. "^'Biit mark how luxury will enter families and 
make a progress, in spite of principle; being called one 
morning to breakfast, I found it in a cliina bowl, with 
a spoon of silver ! They had been bought for me with- 
out my knowledge by my wife, and had cost her the 
enormous sum of three and twenty shillings, for which 
she had no other excuse or apology to make but that 
she thought her husband deserved a silver spoon and 
china bowl as well as any of his neighbors. This was 
the first appearance of plate and china in our house, 
which afterward, in a course of years, as our wealth in- 
creased, augmented gradually to several hundred pounds 

in value." 

16. Franklin was now in a fair way to success. He 
had k good trade and' a thrifty wife; he was diligent, 
frugal and temperate. If he had merely gone on making 
money, nobody would care to-day to read about him. But 
Franklin was something more than a money-maker. 

17. AVhen he was settling himself in Philadelphia, he 
planned with his friends a debating club, called the 
Junto, and for nearly forty years this club used to meet 
once a week, to talk over what its members had read or 
thought about. Out of this club grew the American Phil- 
osophical Society; and out of it, also, grew the Philadel- 
phia Library, the first of the great libraries of America. 

18. This club and library helped Franklin greatly, but 
his mind was always busy. While he was hard at work, 
making his printing-office pay, he was learning French 
and Italian and Spanish. He took a curious mode of 
learning Italian. A friend, who was very fond of play- 
ing chess, and constantly begged Franklin to play with 
him, was also studying Italian. Franklin proposed that 
whichever beat a game should set the other a task in 



FRANKLIN'S MANHOOD. 101 

Italian, and as they played pretty evenly, they made 
steady progress in learning the language. 

19. Philadelphia was not a large city, and Franklin, 
who was a leader among the mechanics, and was looked 
upon as a very sensible young man, soon became very 
well known. When he was thirty years old, he was 
chosen clerk of the general assembly, and the next 
year the postmaster-general of all the colonies made 
him postmaster of Philadelphia. 

20. He w^as now in a position where he could hear 
all the news, and where he could be of real use to his 
townsmen. When he had any plan for bettering the 
city, he would write out his thoughts and read the paper 
to the Junto, where it would be discussed ; and, as there 
were other clubs, which had been started by the Junto, 
the same subject would be talked over in them. Thus 
the matter would be widely discussed, and finally Frank- 
lin would print the plan in his newspaper. 

21. Philadelphia was badly paved and ill-lighted. By 
talking and writing, Franklin managed to get the part 
nearest the market paved. Every one was so delighted, 
that it was easy to persuade the townspeople, after that, 
to submit to a tax, by whicli all the streets were paved. 

22. The lamps in the streets were globes that soon 
became full of smoke, and allowed only a dim light to 
shine through. Franklin changed these globes into 
lamps with four flat panes, with a long funnel above to 
carry off the smoke, and openings below to let the air in. 
He carried out a plan for hiring night-watchmen, and he 
persuaded the people to form fire-companies ; and when 
there was danger of war with France, he induced the 
people to raise money for buying cannon, and to form 
themselves into militia companies. 



102 FRANKLIN'S MANHOOD. 

23. He was a very practical man, and was fond ot 
trying experiments. He invented a stove, still made 
and called by his name, which burnt less fuel, and gave 
out more heat, than the old fireplaces. He discovered 
that protection against lightning could be secured by 
the use of iron rods. Indeed, he made some of the 
earliest experiments in electricity, and thereby became 
famous both in America and Europe. 

24. When the war broke out between France and 
England, Franklin was of great service to the king s 
troops. General Braddock had two regiments m Mary- 
land, but he had no means of transporting the men and 
their supplies across the country. Franklin offered 
to help him, and at once drew up such a fair agree- 
ment, that, when ho published it in the papers, all the 
farmers in the neighborhood came with their wagons. 
They knew Franklin and trusted him. 

25. Before the war was over, Franklin went again to 
London. The people of Pennsylvania had a dispute 
with the Penn family about the right of tlie Assembly 
to tax the Penn property. They thought Franklin the 
wisest man they had, and so they sent him to England 
to carry their point, which he succeeded in doing. 

26. He did not, however, at once return to America. 
The war with France was ended, but Franklin thought 
that England did not know what a prize she had won 
in Canada and the valley of the Mississippi. No one 
was better acquainted than he with America, and he 
knew many members of the English government. So 
he busied himself with seeing that the treaty of peace 
between England and France was so drawn as to be a 
good bargain for England and her colonies. He was 
like a private ambassador. 



ENGLAND AND HER COLONIES. 103 

CHAPTER XXX. 

ENGLAND AND HER COLONIES. 

1. Franklin knew his countrymen well, and he tried to 
make people in England understand them. The English 
in England and the English in America were alike in 
some ways, and unlike in others. If two boys were born 
and brought up in New York City, and one of them 
went, when ten years old, to live on a farm in Oregon, 
they would be found at thirty to have very different 
habits. 

2. It was somewhat thus with England and her colo- 
nies. The English in America were three thousand 
miles away from king and Parliament. They lived on 
land which did not belong, as it often did in England, to 
nobles who lived by the rent they got from it. It was 
their own land. 

3. There were no such differences in rank as in Eng- 
land. Very few nobles ever came to America. Instead, 
the people worked with their own hands, side by side, 
in the fields and shops. They met together in town- 
meeting, and their children went to the same schools. 

4. There was no great regular army as in England, 
made up of men whose business it was to fightx In- 
stead, there were companies of volunteer soldiers, who 
fougrht when there was war with tlie French or In- 
dians, and, when war was over, went back to their 
several farms. 

5. Again, the people who came to America were 
mainly picked men and women. It required courage 
and resolution to cross the Atlantic and settle a new 



104 ENGLAND AND HER COLONIES. 

country. Those who came had to conquer a wilderness ; 
they cut down forests, drove out wild animals, and had 
adventures which were impossible in England. 

6. The war between England and Prance had cost a 
great deal of money. It was a heavy expense to the 
colonies as well as to England, but the king and his 
ministers did not think so much of that as they did of 
their burdens at home. They cast about for some 
means of lessening those burdens. 

7. From the beginning, England had been wont to 
think of the colonies as existing for the convenience of 
England. English merchants sold their goods to the 
colonies ; English ships traded with them. Laws were 
made by Parliament forbidding the colonists to manu- 
facture articles. 

8. The colonists might take iron from the mines, but 
they must send it to England to be manufactured. They 
paid a tax when they sent it. They paid English cap- 
tains for carrying it, English manufacturers for working 
it, English merchants for selling the articles made from 
it, and then another tax to the English government. 

9. So, too, the furs brought in by the hunters, the fish 
caught by the fishermen, the pitch, tar, turpentine, and 
ship-timbers from the forest, must all go to England. 
In the woods of Maine, no tree of more than two feet 
diameter at a foot above the ground could be cut down, 
except for a mast for one of the king's ships. 

10. In this way, England tried to make the industrious 
colonies pour money into her treasury. She acted like 
a great landlord who has a distant farm which he never 
visits, but from which he gets all the profit he can. 
The result was that England really knew very little 
about the people in the American colonies. 




John Adams. 

Bom October 19, 1735; died July 4, 1826. 
Second President of the United States. 



106 WHY OUR FATHERS RESISTED ENGLAND. 

11. Meanwhile, the people went on their own way. 
They were hard workers, and the country was fresh 
and untilled. They found their farms yielded well, and 
there was plenty of room for everybody. In their as- 
semblies they frequently made grants to the king, but 
they took care to say that they gave this money of their 
free will. They held that the king had no right to 
demand it of them. 

12. In New England, they were impatient of the 
taxes which the king's officers collected at the seaports. 
The long extent of sea-coast, however, and the scat- 
tered population, made it easy to get goods into the 
country without the officers knowing it. A great trade 
was carried on in this way, and large fortunes were 
made, so that the complaints against the laws were not 
so loud as they might otherwise have been. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

WHY OUR FATHERS RESISTED ENGLAND. 

1. Although Englishmen generally knew little about 
America, there were some who knew well how valuable 
the colonies were. They advised the king to be more 
strict in preventing smuggling, so that the ships which 
sailed out of, and into, the colonial ports should pay 
more money into the king's treasury. 

2. The revenue officers in tliese ports were greatly 
disliked by the people, who charged them with using 
their offices to make themselves rich. When, therefore, 
the government gave these officers greater power, the 
people complained more loudly than ever. 



WHY OUR FATHERS RESISTED ENGLAND. 107 

3. They complained, especially, when the revenue offi- 
cers were armed with " writs of assistance." These were 
letters from the courts, which gave the officers authority 
to call upon any citizen to assist them in searching a 
house, to see if there were smuggled goods in it. 

4. If an officer had one of these papers, he could 
search any place, and could compel citizens to go with 
him on the search. He was not even obliged to name to 
the court the particular house which he wished to search. 

5. There is a saying in English law, — " An Eng- 
lishman's house is his castle ; " that is, he has rights 
there, which even the king is bound to respect. But a 
collector of the port, if he had a writ of assistance, 
could go in without knocking, and hunt through the 
whole house. 

6. The people determined to see if this was good law, 
for they were brought up to respect the laws. So, when 
the collector of Boston ordered his deputy in Salem to 
apply to the court for a writ of assistance, some persons 
objected, and the judge said he would hear the question 
argued before him. 

7. James Otis was advocate-general of the province. 
It was his duty to show that the writ of assistance was 
according to law. He resigned his office rather than 
take that side, and appeared, instead, on the side of the 
people. He argued well, but the court was not persuaded, 
and the writ of assistance was declared legal. 

8. This decision made the people more determined 
than ever to resist any attack on their rights, and they 
soon had another opportunity to protest. Parliament 
passed an act called the Stamp Act. By this, all deeds, 
contracts, bills of sale, wills, and the like, made in Amer- 
ica, must have a stamp affixed to them, or they would 



108 WHY OUR FATHERS RESISTED ENGLAND. 

not be legal. These stamps were to be sold by the 
government through its officers. 

9. As soon as this was known in America, the people, 
up and down the land, were filled with anger. They 
said that Parliament had no right to pass such a law ; 
only their own assemblies had the right. Otis, in his 
speech against the writs of assistance, had said, " Tax a- 
tion without representation is tyranny." It was a short, 
sharp sentence, easily remembered, and it said exactly 
what the people thought. Everybody repeated the words, 
" Taxation without representation is tyranny." 

10. What did these words mean ? What is repre- 
sentation ? When a town wishes to raise money to 
pay the expense of making roads, or keeping them in 
repair, of maintaining public schools, or of any other 
public interest, a meeting of the townspeople is called. 
They vote to raise the necessary money by a tax. Every 
one must pay, perhaps one dollar for every hundred dol- 
lars that he owns, or one dollar for every dog that he 
keeps. 

11. It would be impossible for all the people in a State 
to come together in this way, and vote to raise the money 
needed, and decide on the amount of the tax. Instead, 
each town chooses, at a meeting, certain of their number 
who shall be representatives of the town at the State 
assembly. These representatives are spokesmen for the 
whole town, and they vote and decide for all the towns 
of the State, just as if all the people had met in the 
State House. 

12. The people of America could send no representa- 
tives to the English Parliament. So they said that Par- 
liament could make laws for England and for the British 
Empire, but it had no right to make special laws for the 



WHY OUR FATHERS RESISTED ENGLAND. 109 

colonies, and lay special taxes there, because the peo- 
ple of the colonies had no opportunity to be heard in 
Parliament. 

13. They sent their representatives to the assemblies, 
and they paid the taxes which their representatives or- 
dered, but taxation without representation was tyranny. 
If they obeyed Parliament when they had no voice in 
Parliament, they were obeying a tyrant. 

14. Accordingly, they made a great uproar over the 
Stamp Act. They did more. Nine of the colonies sent 
representatives to a congress, which met at New York, 
to consult as to what should be done. The people 
throughout the country were thus coming together for 
a common purpose. They were so determined, and it 
was so impossible for England to make them buy the 
stamps, that the Stamp Act was repealed ; that is^ 
after passing the law, Parliament took it back. 

15. It seemed, at first, as if the colonies had gained 
their point. But soon it was clear that England did not 
mean to give up the right to tax the colonies, or to govern 
them in any way she saw fit. She began to send troops 
to New York, and Boston, and other places. The people 
were indignant. Why should soldiers be sent over ? The 
country was not in danger from any enemy. Besides, 
they had their own soldiers. 

16. In Boston, the people demanded that the troops 
should be sent away. They were always getting into 
trouble with the townspeople, for they were very unwel- 
come guests. The better citizens were earnestly and 
angrily calling upon the governor to send the troops 
back to England. The roughs and idlers took their own 
way of showing hatred. They hooted at the soldiers, 
and vexed them in every possible way. 



110 THE BOSTON TEA-PARTY. 

17. From words they came to blows, and as the sol- 
diers were armed, it was not strange that, in one of these 
street fights, some of the townspeople were killed. The 
people were furious at this. No matter if it was a street 
brawl ; English soldiers had killed Americans. They 
called the affair the Boston Massacre, and for several 
years afterward they kept the anniversary as a solemn 
day. So angry was the town after the Boston Massacre, 
that the governor thought it prudent to send the soldiers, 
for a time, to a fort in the harbor. 

18. Whatever took place in one colony was quickly 
reported in the others. Letters were written by the 
men in Boston, who were watching events there, to the 
principal men in the other colonies. Everywhere, peo- 
ple were determined not to allow England to treat them 
unjustly. They sent memorials to the king, in which 
they protested against 'he illegal acts of the king's 
officers. They agreed to do without articles of com- 
merce which came from England, until their wrongs 
should be righted. Those who had sent to England for 
their handsome clothes now dressed in homely cloth? 
spun in America. 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

THE BOSTON TEA-PARTY. 

1. Thus far, the people in America had only talked, 
and held meetings, and gone without English goods. 
The king and his advisers had given way more than 
once, when they found they could not carry their point, 
but they never ceased to declare that they had the right 
to tax the Americans, and to treat them, in fact, as a 
subject people. 



THE BOSTON TEA-PARTY. Ill 

2. Tea was one of the articles wliicli the Americans 
refused to buy of England, because a tax was laid on it 
when it was brought to America. Taxes on other arti- 
cles were taken off, one by one, but the tax on tea was 
left. The English government wanted one tax left, to 
show that they had a right to lay as many taxes as 
they chose. 

3. The colonies, before this, had bought a great deal 
of tea ; now they bought scarcely any. As a conse- 
quence, the warehouses of the East India Company in 
England were filled with tea which the company could 
not sell. The English government was anxious to get 
rid of this tea, for it had lent the company money and 
wished to get it back. It could remove the tax, and 
the Americans would then buy the tea ; but this would 
not do. 

4. There were two taxes on the tea. The company 
that sold the tea was obliged to pay a tax of sixpence a 
pound, before any could be sent out of England ; then 
threepence a pound more was collected before any could 
be landed in America. The government now took off 
the sixpenny tax, but kept on the threepenny tax. They 
imagined this would make the tea so much cheaper that 
Americans would not mind the slight tax that was left. 

5. They did not know the Americans. As soon as 
the people heard of this they were very indignant. It 
was as much as telling them that they cared more for 
tea than they did for their principles ; that they had 
stood out against the tax, only because it made their 
tea cost too much. In all the ports, they resolved that 
the tea should not even be landed. 

6. In Boston, the people, under their leader, Sam 
Adams, went to the governor and insisted that the 



n^ 



THE BOSTON TEA-PARTY. 



ships should be sent back to England. He refused, 
and they took the matter into their own hands. They 
posted a guard over the tea-ships to make sure that 
none of the cargo was landed. They held meetings in 




Faneuil Hall as it was at the time of the Boston Tea-Party in 1773. 

Fancuil Hall, which were attended not only by Bos- 
tonians, but by people from all the country about. 

7. For nearly three weeks these meetings were held. 
They grew to be so large that the people had to adjourn 
to the Old South Meeting-house. They sent committees 
to confer with the merchants to wliom the tea had been 
sent. The merchants were ready to send the ships back, 
but the officers of the king refused to allow them to do this. 

8. At last, in the middle of December, the day had 
come for the final answer to be given. At ten o'clock 



114 THE BOSTON TEA-PARTY. 

in the morning, people began to crowd the Old South to 
hear what Mr. Rotch, the owner of the chief tea-ship, 
should say. He came, and said that the collector of the 
port absolutely refused to give him papers, by whicli his 
ship would be given permission to go back to England 
without unloading. 

9. Everybody knew that there were two English men- 
of-war in the harbor, and that tliey would stop any vessel 
which might try to sail away without permission. The 
meeting told Mr. Rotch to go to the governor and tell 
him, from the people, to order the collector to give him 
the necessary papers. 

10. The governor, who knew what was going on, had 
taken care to go out of town to his country-seat in Mil- 
ton. He wished to be out of the way. The people told 
Mr. Rotch to go out to Milton and find him. Then they 
adjourned the meeting to three o'clock in the afternoon. 

11. When three o'clock came, the Old South was 
crammed with people, and there was a great crowd out- 
side. They were waiting for Mr. Rotch. Meanwhile, 
patriots were making speeches to the multitude. The 
afternoon went by, and sunset came. It was dark and 
cold, but the people did not move. 

12. At a quarter-past six o'clock Mr. Rotch came 
back, and made his way through tlie darkness to the 
stand. There was a great hush. Then he announced 
that he had seen the governor, who refused to allow the 
ships to leave. As soon as lie had finished, Sam Adams 
stood up and said, " This meeting can do nothing more 
to save the country ! " 

13. Instantly there was a tremendous shout and a war- 
whoop outside the building. The people poured into the 
street. Forty or fifty Indians were rushing down toward 



THE BOSTON TEA-PARTY. 115 

the wharves. After them went the people, easily guesb- 
ing who they were. They were young men, disguised 
as Indians, who had been in readiness in case nothing 
else could be done. 

14. They leaped on board the tea-ships lying at the 
wharf, and seized upon the chests of tea. They broke 
in the sides of the boxes, and emptied the contents into 
the harbor. Not a box of tea did they spare, while the 
crowd stood by and cheered. 

15. The news spread quickly over the country. In 
other towns the people were just as resolute, but the 
king's officers were not so obstinate, and let the ships 
go back to England with the tea on board. What would 
happen when the Boston ships returned, and carried the 
news of what had been done ? 

16. It was soon seen. Parliament at once passed an 
act, called the Boston Port Bill, closing the port of Bos- 
ton. After a certain date -no person should load or un- 
load any ship in that port, until the town asked pardon 
for what it had done, and paid for the tea destroyed. 

17. This was intended to punish Boston, and it was 
a severe punishment, for the town lived mainly by its 
commerce. When tlie port was closed, the people hung 
out mourning on their houses, but they had no intention 
of asking pardon. They were sorry to be made poor, 
but they were not sorry for what they had done. 

18. The other towns sent messages of sympathy, and, 
throughout the country, money was raised and sent to 
help the poor of Boston. The people all felt that the 
town had not acted for herself alone, but for the whole 
country. 



116 LEXINGTON AND CONCORD. 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

LEXINGTON AND CONCORD. 

1. After the Stamp Act, nine of the colonies had 
sent representatives to a congress in New York. After 
the Boston Port Bill, all of the colonies, except Georgia, 
sent representatives to a congress at Philadelphia, which 
is known as the First Continental Congress. This Con- 
gress drew up a memorial to the king which recited the 
wrongs suffered by the colonies. 

2. Thus the entire country was coming to feel a 
common cause, but the events in Boston made that place 
the one most watched. The governor of Massachusetts 
was General Gage. He was appointed by the king, and 
had several regiments of British soldiers under his com- 
mand, as well as British men-of-war in the harbor. 

3. But General Gage was surrounded by a vigilant 
people, who did not mean to sit still and suffer. It was 
impossible for the governor to place troops in all the 
towns and villages in the province. On the other hand, 
the people were everywhere forming their own military 
companies, and preparing to maintain their rights. 

4. The English government took away from Massa- 
chusetts the right to have a legislature. The governor 
was to rule, with the aid of a council appointed by the 
king. The courts, whenever they saw fit, were to send 
prisoners to England to be tried. 

5. The people refused to give up the right of self- 
government. If they could not meet with the governor 
in the State House at Boston, they would have their own 
legislature somewhere else ; and so they didc They met 



LEXINGTON AND CONCORD. 117 

in their towns and chose representatives as before, and 
these representatives met in Concord. They called 
themselves the Provincial Congress. 

6. This Congress had gathered military stores, pow- 
der, shot, and guns, in readiness for war. General 
Gage determined to send a company of soldiers from 
Boston to Concord, which was only twenty miles away, 
to seize these stores. He w^ent to work secretly, so as 
to take the people by surprise, for he had no wish to 
bring on a fight. 

7. Near the foot of Boston Common was then the 
Back Bay, with water all the way to East Cambridge. 
General Gage ordered troops, from the barracks on the 
Common, to take boats at this point and cross to East 
Cambridge. Then they were to march through Lexing- 
ton to Concord, and destroy the stores or bring them 
away. 

8. The troops started quietly, but they could not get 
off without being seen. The patriots in Boston were 
always on the alert. Some of their number were kept 
walking the streets at all hours, ready to detect any 
movement of the soldiers. They saw the men start 
from the Back Bay, and immediately informed the 
leaders. At first it was supposed that the soldiers were 
sent to capture John Hancock and Sam Adams, who 
were leading patriots, and were at this time in Lexing- 
ton. So a rider was sent across the country, by way of 
Roxbury, to warn them. 

9. 'The news spread quickly among the patriots who 
were in council in Boston. They had been expecting 
some movement among the soldiers, and had agreed 
on a signal to notify those who were concerned. From 
the tower of a church at the north end of the town, a 



118 



LEXINGT05S AND CONCORD. 



single lantern was to be hung if the troops went by land, 
or two lanterns, if they went by water. 

10. Two lights flashed out from the tower. Across 
the stream, on the Charlestown side, was Paul Revere, 
one of the Boston patriots. He had a good horse ; it 




( Kox'harj J > 

BOSTON, 

r.IlARLESTOWN,ETC. 

on an e.nlarned ncaU. 



was a clear, frosty night, 

and he galloped away 

toward Lexington. As 

he went by houses where 

patriots lived, he would 

stop and give the warning that the soldiers were out. 

At Lexington he was joined by another rider, and so 

rode on to Concord. 

11. When the British troops, in the early morning of 
April 19, 1775, came to Lexington, they found seventy 
men drawn uj) on the Common. The commander of the 
king's troops called out : " Ye villains, ye rebels, dis- 



LEXINGTON AND CONCORD. 119 

perse ! " Each side was armed ; each side meant not to 
fire first. But, in the excitement, one of the patriots 
tried to fire. He had a flintlock gun, and there was 
a flash in the pan, hut no fire. In a moment the 
British fired, and their fire was returned. 

12. The Americans were greatly outnumbered. A 
fourth of their number fell, killed or wounded, and the 
rest gave way. One British soldier was killed, and the 
troops pressed on toward Concord. It was now day- 
light, and the whole country was roused. From all the 
villages about, men were pouring into the roads that led 
to Lexington and Concord. 

13. The news reached Boston, and General Gage, 
hearing that his troo})S were in danger, sent Lord Fercy 
with a fresh company. They did not go by water, for 
the boats were across the river, but marched through 
Roxbury and Brighton, and so through West Cambridge 
toward Concord. 

14. Meanwhile, the first troops had reached Concord, 
and some had begun to destroy the military stores, while 
the rest held the bridge that crossed the Concord River. 
But a number of patriots had now gathered on the neigh- 
boring hills. While the British were breaking up the 
gun-carriages, they heard the sound of firing at tlie 
bridge. The Americans had attacked the soldiers left 
at the bridge. 

15. They hurried back to them. Now the farmers 
continued firing angrily upon tlie British, who saw that 
they could do nothing more, and set out for Lexington 
again. Behind them came the Americans, following 
them with shot and stones. It was a warm day, and 
the soldiers, who had had a long march, were terribly 
used up. 



120 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 

16. They trudged along, and at Lexington met Lord 
Percy and his men, who helped protect them. The 
whole body moved as rapidly as possible down the road 
toward Charlestown. The Americans pressed them 
hard. They fired at them from behind stone-walls and 
fences and houses, and did not leave them alone till 
the tired troops crossed Charlestown Neck at sunset, 
and were under the guns of the British vessels in the 
stream. So ended the Lexington and Concord fight. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 

1. When the British troops reached Charlestown, they 
encamped on a hill called Bunker Hill. Just beyond, 
nearer to the water which separates Charlestown from 
Boston, was Breed's Hill. At the foot of these hills 
was the town of Charlestown. A ferry carried people 
across to Boston. 

2. The men in the country who had been roused did 
not go back quietly to their farms. They had been 
drilling in militia companies for a long time, and now 
they marched to Cambridge and encamped on Cam- 
bridge Common. The Provincial Congress at Concord, 
three days after the fight, resolved that an army of 
thirty thousand men should be raised, and proposed 
that nearly half the number should be enlisted in 
Massachusetts. 

3. The other New England colonies voted to raise 
regiments, and troops quicldy gathered and surrounded 
Boston. There was a Rhode Island army and a Con- 
necticut army, an army of Massachusetts and an army 



122 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 

of New Hampshire. There was, however, no united 
army, and no general commanding all the forces. 

4. The news of Lexington and Concord was sent to 
Philadelphia, where the Continental Congress was as- 
sembled. It was evident that if there was an army of 
Americans encamped about Boston, that army was fight- 
ing for all the colonies, and not for New England only. 
The Provincial Congress at Concord asked the Conti- 
nental Congress at Philadelphia to make the army a 
Continental army, and to appoint a commander-in-chief. 
The members agreed, without a dissenting voice, upon 
George Washington of Virginia. 

5. Washington set out from Philadelphia for Cam- 
bridge, but on the way he heard a startling piece 
of news. The army of which he was to take command 
had not waited for him. It had fought the battle of 
Bunker Hill. 

6. The way it came about was this. After the fight 
at Concord, tlie patriot camps about Boston really shut 
the British up in the town. The people in Boston who 
feared fighting were very anxious to get away. The 
people outside of Boston, who were on the king's side, 
were anxious to get into Boston, where they would be 
under the protection of the British soldiers. 

7. Thus there was a great deal of going back and 
forth. The king's men could at any time leave the 
town by sea, but, if they wished to hold the place, they 
must also hold the hills whicli overlooked it. The most 
important of these were, Bunker and Breed's in Charles- 
town, and Dorchester Heights opposite Boston on the 
other side. 

8. It was clear to the patriots, also, that if they wished 
to command Boston they must get possession of the 



BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 123 

mils. So, after much thought, just as the British were 
planning to occupy Dorchester Heights, the Americans 
made up their minds to seize upon the Charlestown hills 
and huild a fort there. 

9. On the night of the 16th of June, about twc 
months after the Concord fight, a company of Amer- 
icans marched from Cambridge Common to Charles- 
town. They came to Bunker Hill, but saw that they 
would not be safe unless they fortified Breed's Hill, 
which was nearer to Boston. 

10. So, a little after midnight, they went to work with 
a will, a thousand men digging in the earth to raise an 
embankment on the top of the hill. Their leader was 
Colonel Prescott, whose grandson was afterward a famous 
American writer. 

11. When the sun rose on the morning of the 17th of 
June, it shone on a fortification six or seven feet in 
height, behind which were a thousand men, who had 
toiled through the night, and were still busily strength- 
ening their defense. 

12. As soon as the captain of a British man-of-war, 
lying in the stream, saw what had been done, he be- 
gan firing on the fort. His guns gave notice in 
Boston, and the British officers at once met in council. 
At first they proposed to send a force of men to Charles- 
town Neck, to attack the fort from the rear. They de- 
cided, however, to cross to Charlestown and storm the 
fort in front. 

13. The Americans, meanwhile, were sending messen- 
gers to Cambridge, to ask for more troops and guns. 
Gen. Israel Putnam, a brave Connecticut soldier, was 
very busy, riding back and forth and cheering the men. 
He was the highest officer in rank on the ground, and 



124 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 

while Prescott was in command behind the fort, Putnam 
took general charge of affairs. 

14. It was noon before the British landed, but they 
kept up a constant fire from their ships to prevent the 
Americans in Cambridge from going to Charlestown. 
By three o'clock, the British soldiers were formed in line 
at the foot of the hill ; at the top were the Americans, 
with beating hearts, waiting the attack. There was a 
rail-fence stretching down one side of the hill. They 
had hastily filled this in with sticks and grass, and some 
of the men were behind it. 

15. They had very little powder and shot, and both 
Putnam and Prescot-t* knew how needful it was for the 
men to save their ammunition. If they could have the 
courage to hold their ground until the enemy came close 
to them, it would be much in their favor. 

16. " Wait till the enemy are within eight rods," 
they said. " Save your powder." " Men, you are all 
marksmen," said Putnam. " Don't one of you fire till 
you see the whites of their eyes." 

17. The eager men, their hearts thumping at the 
approach of the enemy, could not restrain themselves. 
One and another fired, but their commanders indignantly 
ordered them to stop. On came the British, marching 
in a solid body. Tliey came nearer. They were with- 
in eight rods. " Fire ! " came the command ; and the 
Americans, springing up, poured their fire down upon 
the advancing line. 

18. Still the enemy pressed forward. Again and again 
the Americans fired. The British hesitated. Their com- 
mander ordered a retreat. They turned and went down 
the hill, and a shout burst from the Americans. 

19. Now, if only reinforcements and ammunition 



BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 125 

would come from Cambridge ! But the fire from the 
sliips made that next to impossible. Only a few could 
make their way across the narrow neck. The men who 
had worked all night and all day had to bear the brunt 
of the fight. 

20. In a quarter of an hour more the second attack 
came. Again the dusty, smoke-covered men beat back 
the British soldiers. In vain the British officers pricked 
their men forward with the bayonet. They were forced 
to order a retreat. Once more the men behind the 
earthworks and the fence burst into a cheer. 

21. When the third attack was made, the British 
were more cautious and more determined. They placed 
their cannon where they could reach the inside of the 
fort, and again they advanced, their number increased by 
fresh troops. Once more the Americans received them, 
but their ammunition was gone. They seized their mus- 
kets by the barrel and used them as clubs. They hurled 
stones upon the advancing men, but such a fight could 
end only in one way. 

22. The Americans, fighting desperately hand to hand, 
now began to give way, and to retreat slowly toward 
Cambridge. They had fought a brave fight. They 
had lost ; but the battle of Bunker Hill, as it is called, 
was one of those memorable battles where the cour- 
age of the men who fought in it is remembered long, 
though the battle is lost. 



126 - THE BREACH WIDENS. 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

THE BREACH WIDENS. 

1. For nearly nine months after the battle of Bunker 
tfill tlie British continued to occupy Boston, while the 
American army surrounded the town. Washington, 
with his officers, was busy drilling the men and collect- 
ing supplies. The patriots 
had very little powder and 
very few cannon. 

2. At last, however, Wash- 
ington was ready to drive the 
British out of Boston. At 
the same time the king's 
men saw that nothing was to 

Washington's Headquarters in j^g gaincd by Staying tllCrC. 

They might much better take 
possession of the central parts of the country. So, as 
soon as they saw that they were to be attacked, they 
went on board their ships and sailed away. 

3. It was not too late, many on both sides thought, 
to prevent war, and to bring back the colonies so that 
they should be on good terms with the king. But during 
the long months when the two armies were watching 
each other, the people were growing more used to the 
idea that they could get along without England. They 
did not see that the king meant to set right the wrongs 
they suffered. On the contrary, they saw regiments of 
soldiers coming across the Atlantic, and they heard the 
king talk about subduing his rebellious subjects. 

4. One thing was certain, — the different colonies 




THE BREACH WIDENS. 127 

could not carry on their affairs without some govern- 
ment. The people had their legislatures, and the king 
had appointed the governors and judges ; but it would 
be impossible to go on thus when the king was treating 
them as rebels. So the Congress of the colonies advised 
each colony to set up its own government ; to continue 
to have its legislature, but also to choose its governor, 
and have the governor appoint the judges. 

5. South Carolina did this before Congress advised 
it, but the colony declared that it took the step only 
until there should again be peace. One colony after 
another set up its own government, and thus with very 
little confusion each colony became a State. Where 
there had been thirteen English colonies, there were 
now thirteen American States. 

6. In Congress, some of the bolder members were in 
favor of declaring the country to be free. Others ad- 
vised patience. England, they said, might yet change 
her mind, and all go on as before. Every fresh attack, 
however, by the British, served to make this seem im- 
possible, and more surely united those who believed in 
independence. 

7. At last Congress determined to consider definitely 
the question of independence. Then it took a recess of 
four weeks. This was to give the members an opportu- 
nity to go home and hear what their neighbors thought. 
When the recess was over, and the members came back, 
they had no longer any doubt. It was quite clear that 
the people were ready to declare the colonies free and 
independent of Great Britain. 



128 



POURTH OF JULY. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 



FOURTH OF JULY. 



L On the second day of July, 1776, this resolution 
was passed in Congress : " That these united colonies 
are, and of right ought to be, free and independent 
States ; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the 
British crown, and that all political connection between 
them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to he. 
totally dissolved." 




Independence Hal!, 5 776. 



2. It was a very serious step to take. One of the 
members of Congress was John Adams of Massachu- 
setts, who became the second President of the United 




Thomas Jefferson. 
Bom April 2, 1743 ; died July 4, i8a6. 
Third President of the United States. 



ISO FOURTH OF JULY. 

States. He wrote a letter, July 3, 1776, to his wife, in 
which he said : " The second day of July, 1776, will be 
the most memorable epocha ^ in the history of America. 
I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeed- 
ing generations as the great anniversary festival. It 
ought to be commemorated, as the day of deliverance, 
by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought 
to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, 
games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations 
from one end of this continent to the other, from this 
time forward forevermore." 

3. It is not July 2d, however, but July 4th that has 
ever since been celebrated. On that day Congress 
agreed to the Declaration of Independence, and ordered 
it to be published to the world. The Declaration was 
signed by John Hancock, president of Congress, and 
Charles Thomson, secretary. A few Aveeks later the 
Declaration was written on parchment and signed by all 
the members of Congress. 

4. The original parchment copy is preserved at 
Washington. It is an interesting fact that Thomas 
Jefferson of Virginia, who wrote the Declaration, and 
John Adams of Massachusetts, who was its principal 
supporter, both died on the 4th of July, 1826, exactly 
fifty years after the Declaration was published. 

5. Although Congress voted that every member sliould 
sign the Declaration of Independence, there were some 
who had many doubts as to the wisdom of taking such 
a stand. In it, Congress told the world how the king 
had ill-treated the colonies. It told of the petitions 
addressed to the king, and how he answered with new 
injuries. It showed that the colonies had appealed, not 

1 Epoclia (pronounced ep'oka) = day. 



THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. 131 

to the king only, but to their brethren the people of 
England. 

6. All had been in vain, and now Congress declared 
to the world that the colonies were no longer subject to 
Great Britain ; they were free and independent States, 
governing themselves. Something more than a year 
later Congress went further, and drew up a plan by 
wliich the thirteen States should form a confederation 
called the United States of America. 







Liberty Bell, Independence Hall. 

CHAPTER XXXYIL 

THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. 

1. The war for independence began when the first 
shot was fired on Lexington Common. On the 19th of 
October, 1781, the British forces under Lord Cornwallis 
surrendered to General Washington at Yorktown, Vir- 
ginia. It was nearly two years after that, however, 
namely, on September 8, 1783, when a treaty of peace 



133 THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. 

was signed between Great Britain and the United 
States. 

• 2. Thus the war lasted more than eight years. It 
was a hard war. The Americans were not trained to 
arms. Many of them, indeed, had fought the Indians, 
and some had been engaged in the war between England 
and France ; but for the most part they were farmers, 
who left their farms for the camp. 

3. The English, on the other hand, sent over regiments 
of men who had been trained in the art of war. They 
had a navy, too, with which they could blockade the ports, 
and carry their army from one point to another on the 
sea-coast. There were many in America, also, who did 
not wish the colonies separated from Great Britain. 
These Tories, as they were called, were often of great 
service to the English. 

4. After the British sailed out of Boston harbor, there 
was not much fighting in New England. The Ameri- 
cans tried to persuade Canada to join them ; but, though 
Canada had only lately been conquered by England, the 
Canadians cared little about the war and took no part 
in it. 

5. The British took possession of New York and kept 
it till the end of the war. They found it very important 
to hold New York bay for their fleet, and they wished 
to control the whole length of the Hudson River, Lake 
George, and Lake Champlain. If they could do this, 
they would separate New England from the rest of the 
country, and so find it easier to conquer the people. 

6. For this purpose they sent an army, by way of 
Quebec and Montreal, to the head of L?ike Champlain. 
Another army was to come from Lake Erie, by way of 
the valley of the Mohawk River, and join the first one 



THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. 133 

near Albany. General Burgoyne, who commanded the 
expedition from Lake Champlain, expected the general 
in New York to come up the river with a third army. 

7. The second army was turned back by a force of 
Americans, and never reached Albany. The third army 
was so hoodwinked by General Washington, who made 
believe he was coming to fight it, that it did not join 
the northern army, and Burgoyne was defeated in 
a succession of battles near Saratoga, to the great 
encouragement of the Americans. 

8. At another thiie the British hoped to get con- 
trol of the Hudson River through the treachery of an 
American general. General Benedict Arnold was in 
command at West Point, on the Hudson. It was an im- 
portant post. The army which held it would be able 
to hold the roads leading from New England iiito New 
York State. 

9. Arnold was a selfish man, and he loved money. He 
offered to betray West Point and the army there, to the 
British, for a sum of money. Major Andre, the English 
officer who was carrying messages back and forth, was 
captured, and the plot was discovered in time. Andrd 
was hanged"; but Arnold escaped and became an officer 
in the British army. 

10. In the early part of the war Congress met in 
Philadelphia. Afterward, the British came by water 
from New York, landed below the city, met the 
American army, defeated it, and took possession of 
Philadelphia. They held the city through -^ne winter, 
but then returned to New York. 

11. During the last part of the war th^ principal 
fighting was in the south. The people there were nearly 
f*.qually divided in allegiance. Every plantation was an 



234 THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. 

armed camp, and neighbor fought neighbor. It was 
only so long as an army on either side occupied a dis- 
trict, that the district could be said to be for Congress 
or for the king. 

12. At first the American army was badly defeated 
in the south. Then General Nathanael Greene was 
placed at the head of that division, and he drove the 
British from one post to another, until they finally 
took up a position at Yorktown, in Virginia, where the 
last great battle of the war was fought. 

13. Though the Americans fought bravely for indepen- 
dence, they owed much to the help which they received 
from France. France was an old enemy of England, 
and when she saw the English colonies in rebellion, she 
encouraged them, and promised to help them. 

14. It was only after Burgoyne was defeated, however, 
that France came forward openly and declared herself 
an ally of the United States. So it came about, that the 
people in America who formerly had fought the French 
with the British on their side, now found themselves 
fighting the British with the French on their side. 

15. The French sent a number of ships and men to 
help the Americans. In the final struggle, the French 
army, under Count Lafayette, and the French fleet ren- 
dered important aid. France also lent the United States 
money to carry on the Avar. 

16. This was especially needed, for, when the war 
came, the people were poor. They had just spent a 
great deal of money in the French and Indian war. 
Besides, since their commerce had been chiefly with 
England, the war put an end to that, and they had not 
this means of obtaining money. 




James Madison. 

Bom March i6, 1751; died June 28, 1836. 
Fourth President of the United States. 



136 HEKOES OF THE WAR: THE PLAIN PEOPLE. 



CHAPTER XXXVIIL 



HEROES OF THE WAR: THE PLAIN PEOPLE. 

1, The men who fired the first shot at Lexington 
were farmers. Throughout the war, the country de- 
pended ahnost entirely upon American volunteers. 
There were some European officers, 
and tlie French sent over a few 
soldiers, but these last did not do 
much fighting. 

2, The w\ar was begun by the 
people and carried on by them. 
They did not hire other men to 
fight for them ; they were fight- 
ing for their own rights and free- 
dom. We call them patriots, 
which means men who love their 
countr} . 

3. At first, country meant, to 
each soldier, the colony in which he 
had lived. But as the war went on, 
and New England men fought in 
New York and Pennsylvania, and 
men from the south fought side 
by side with men of the north, 
their country meant all the thir- 
teen States. When men have fought in the same com^ 
pany and have suffered together, they learn to know one 
another well. 

4. At the time when the British held Philadelphia, the 
chief American army was in winter-quarters at Valley 




A Soldier in the Conti- 
nental Army. 



HEROES OF THE WAR: THE PLAIN PEOPLE. 137 

Forge, a place about twenty miles from Philadelphia. 
The British army was having a very comfortable winter ; 
it was well housed and warmed. There were many 
Tories in the city and neighborhood, and the people in 
the country about were very ready to sell provisions to 
the British. There were fine times in the winter even- 
ings, and the city was gay with feasting and dancing. 

5. It was not so at Valley Forge. The soldiers made 
haste to cut down trees and build rude huts, which 
they plastered with mud ; but they could not get these 
finished before the icy winter was upon them. Con- 
gress could not, or would not, do much for them. The 
separate States were expected to look after their own 
men, but the States were poor. 

6. Often the men had no blankets or overcoats, or 
even shoes to their feet. Provisions were scarce. The 
soldiers went for days without meat. Hundreds of 
horses starved to death, because no grain or hay could 
be had. Men sickened and died, but their brave com- 
rades lived on, uncomplaining. This is what Washing- 
ton said of the heroes : — 

7. " To see men without clothes to cover their naked- 
ness, without blankets to lie on, without shoes [for the 
want of which their marches might be traced by the 
blood from their feet], and almost as often without 
provisions as with them, marching through the frost 
and snow, and at Christmas taking up their winter- 
quarters within a day's march of the enemy, without a 
house or a hut to cover them till they could be built, 
and submitting without a murmur, is a proof of patience 
and obedience which in my opinion can scarcely be 
paralleled." 

8. There were heroic women also in those days. 



138 HEROES OF THE WAR: THE PLAIN PEOPLE. 

While the British were occupying Philadelphia, the 
officers in command met to consult in the house of 
William and Lydia Darrah, two Quakers, who were 
ardent patriots. They told Lydia one night to send her 
family early to bed, and they would let her know when 
they were ready to leave the house. 

9. She suspected, from their secrecy, that they had 
some plan on foot ; so she crept quietly to the door of 
the room where the officers sat, and there heard the 
order read for an attack to be made the next day on 
the American army, which was then at White Marsh, 
outside of the city. 

10. She went softly back to her chamber, and lay 
waiting for the summons to let the officers out. When 
they had gone and the house was locked, she could not 
sleep for thinking how she could help her countrymen. 

11. At last, at early dawn, she told her husband that 
they needed flour, and that she must go to Frankfort 
to the mill. She saddled her horse and rode to head- 
quarters, where she obtained a pass to Frankfort. Then 
she rode to the mill with her bag ; but no sooner had 
she left it to be filled, than she rode full speed toward 
the American camp. As soon as she met an American 
officer she told her story and sent him to General Wash- 
ington, with a caution not to say how he got his news. 

12. Then she returned to Frankfort, received her bag 
of flour, and rode back to Philadelphia. Soon she saw 
troops leaving the city, and she waited anxiously for the 
result. She heard no firing, but after several hours she 
saw the troops coming back. One of the officers came 
to her house and called her to him. 

13. " Were any of your family up, Lydia, last niffht, 
when we met here ? " he asked. 



HEROES OF THE WAR: THE PLAIN PEOPLE. 139 

14. "No," she replied; "I did as you told me, and 
sent them all to bed at eight o'clock." 

15. " It is very strange," said the officer. " You were 
sound asleep, for I had to knock three times before I 
could wake you ; but somebody must have learned our 
plans, for when we expected to surprise the rebels, we 
found Washington prepared to meet us, and we had to 
give it up and come back." 

16. One of the martyrs of the war was a young 
Connecticut soldier named Nathan Hale. He was a 




Execution of Nathan Hale. 



studious young man, who had been through college 
and loved his books, but went into the army because 
he wished to serve his country. 



17 



General Washington needed some one to make his 



140 HEROES OF THE WAR: THE PLAIN PEOPLE. 

way into the enemy's camp on Long Island, find out how 
many soldiers there were, and how they were placed. 
Hale volunteered to go. It was dangerous business. 
He would be a spy, and men do not praise spies ; 
but he said, " Every kind of service necessary to the 
public good becomes honorable by being necessary." 
A friend begged him not to go. " I will reflect," he 
said, " and do nothing which I do not feel to be my 
duty." 

18. He decided to go. He took note of all he saw, 
and was just making his way across the ferry to New 
York, when he was discovered by a Tory who knew him, 
and was carried to the British commander. It was use- 
less for him to deny his business, for his papers were 
found upon him. He was a brave fellow, and made no 
excuses for himself. 

19. The commander gave orders that he should be 
hanged. He was a rebel and a spy ; therefore he was 
not even to be tried. He was not to be shot like a 
soldier ; he was not allowed to write to his mother ; 
he was not allowed to have a Bible to read ; he asked 
to have a clergyman visit him, but his request was 
refused. He was hanged like a base criminal, but he 
said with a clear voice just before he was hanged, 
*' I only regret that I have but one life to give for my 
country." 



HEROES OF THE WAR: THE LEADERS. I'll 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 

HEROES OF THE WAR: THE LEADERS. 

1. When the war broke out, the most famous American 
was Benjamin Franklin. He was an old man, but he 
had great faith in his countrymen, and he was constantly 
writing and saying encouraging words. He was sent 
to Paris, that he might make the French friendly to 
America. Other agents were sent with him, but Franklin, 
by his shrewdness, his wit, by saying the right word at 
the right time, did more than all others to commend the 
American cause. He was one of those who finally signed 
the treaty of peace between England and the United 
States. 

2. Sam Adams was one of the most active men in 
Boston, at the time when the people there were resisting 
the king. He was not a rich man, nor did he associate 
only with rich men. He was in the habit of talking 
much with the workingmen of Boston, who formed clubs, 
and discussed town affairs at their meetings. 

3. He was sure to be at the town-meeting, and often 
presided. He was one of the first to see that it would 
be impossible for the colonies to continue to be governed 
by England. So he labored, day after day, to bring other 
people to his way of thinking, and the people sent him 
to Con2:ress, where he was one of the chief advocates of 
independence. 

4. Patrick Henry of Virginia was a great orator. He 
was in the Virginia assembly when the Stamp Act was 
passed in England, and he led the members in opposi- 
tion to it. He was a brave man, and foremost among 



142 HEROES OF THE WAR: THE LEADERS. 

the Virginian patriots. By his eloquence he persuaded 
the people to take a stand, when timid men held back. 




Sam Adams. 



5. The author of the Declaration of Independence was 
Thomas Jefferson of Virginia. He was a planter, but 
he was also very fond of study. He made notes on all 
the interesting plants and places in his native colony. 



HEKOES OF THE WAR: THE LEADERS. 



143 



He studied science, and he also studied very carefully 
the meaning of government, and the history of other 
peoples. 

6. So when his neighbors sent him to Congress, it was 
quickly found out that he had more scholarship than his 




Patrick Henry. 

fellows. Every one went to him for advice, and he was 
called upon to frame laws, and to write out what the 
people thought. 

7. John Adams of Massachusetts was a cousin of 
Sam Adams. He believed heartilv in the right of the 



144 HEROES OF THE WAR: THE LEADERS. 

people to govern themselves, and he was one of the 
strong advocates of independence. He was sent to 
France and Holland, to aid in winning the friendship 
of those countries. 

8. He was a most industrious man, and he was con- 
stantly at work explaining to the people of Europe just 
what the Americans were trying to do. He succeeded 
in persuading them to lend money to the United States. 
He was a very stubborn man, and when the treaty of 
peace was signed with England, he insisted on certain 
rights which the English were very slow to grant. 

9. In time of war the management of the treasury is 
scarcely less important than the management of the 
army. One of the most patriotic of Americans was 
Robert Morris of Pennsylvania, who was financial agent 
for Congress. He was a rich merchant and an able, 
honest man. He not only took care of the funds of 
Congress, but, in times of great distress, he pledged liis 
own property. He saved the country from financial 
ruin, but he died a poor man. 

10. While these and other men were busy, in Congress 
and out, in Europe and in America, the principal business 
was to fight successfully. Naturally, the people looked 
to those officers who had learned something of the art 
of war when fighting the, French and Indians. 

11. One of the first generals who took the field was 
Israel Putnam of Connecticut. When he was a young 
man on a farm he was called to a wolf-hunt. The wolf 
took refuge in a cave, and could not be reached or driven 
out. Putnam, with a rope about his waist, torch in one 
hand and gun in the other, crawled, flat on his face, 
into the cave. He shot the wolf, and the people dragged 
him and the beast out together. 



HEROES OF THE WAR: THE LEADERS. 145 

12. He was plowing a field when the news of Lex- 
ington came. Leaving his son to unyoke the team, he 
sprang upon a horse and rode, dressed as he was, to 
rouse his neighbors. It was seventy miles to Boston, 
and farther to Concord ; but Putnam was there the next 
day, having ridden his horse night and day. 

13. We have seen that he was at the front in the 
battle of Bunker Hill. When Washington came to 
Cambridge, he brought a commission for Putnam, who 
had been made a major-general by Congress. He fought 
bravely through the war and, as he was a daring man, 
had many famous adventures, and was such a favorite 
that he was commonly called " Old Put." 

14. Putnam was a farmer, though he had seen service 
in the French and Indian war. Nathanael Greene was 
a Rhode Island blacksmith, the son of a Quaker. He 
was very fond of his books, and was a member of the 
Rhode Island assembly. There he showed himself so 
wise and prudent that he was made a brigadier- general, 
when Rhode Island sent troops to Cambridge. 

15. At Cambridge he met Washington, and the two 
became close friends. Washington saw, as the war went 
on, what an excellent manager Greene was, and he per- 
suaded Congress to appoint him quartermaster-general. 
This meant that he should secure and have charge of all 
the supplies for the army, — one of the most difficult 
places to fill. 

16. General Greene showed that he was the right man 
in the right place, and once more he was promoted. Thf 
British were using all their efforts to separate the south 
ern colonies from the northern. It was their last hope 
The American army had been defeated, but Greene too/ 
<;ommand and turned the scale- 



146 



HEROKS OF THE WAE: THE LEADERS. 



17. General Wayne was a daring, dashing man, and so 
ready for perilous adventures that he wa.^ nicknamed 
Mad Anthony Wayne. The British had captured a half- 
finished fort at Stony Point, on the Hudson. Wayne 
undertook to recapture it, and by a bold attack in the 

mm 




Capture of Ctony Point. 

night surprised the British, and in half an hour after the 
first shot was fired, was master of the fort. 

18. The southern colonies were not so thickly settled 
as the northern. It was hard to maintain an army 
there, and many planters took sides with the king. But 
there were brave men who formed companies and rode 




James Monroe. 

Bom April 28, 1758; died July 4, 183 1. 
Fifth President of the United States. 



148 HEROES OF THE WAR: THE LEADERS. 

stealthily through the country, suddenly attacking the 
British and causing them great trouble. 

19. Such a man was General Marion. He had some- 
times only twenty men with him, never more than 
seventy. Once with twenty men he surprised the British, 
who had taken a hundred and fifty prisoners. He fell 
upon the guard and set the prisoners free. To get 
swords for his men, he ground the saws of saw-mills. 
He never exposed his men rashly, but he was as quick 
as an eagle, swooping down upon the enemy when they 
least expected it. He was an earnest lover of his 
country, and an honest, humane man. 

20. The British, though possessing a great navy, did 
not have everything their own way at sea. Bold Amer- 
ican seamen fitted out fishing-vessels and merchant- 
men, with which they pounced upon English vessels, 
and even landed on the coast of England. One of the 
most famous of these seamen was Jolm Paul Jones. 

21. The war in America interested many in Europe 
who loved liberty, and officers who had been engaged 
in war eagerly offered their services to Congress. The 
most noticeable of these were Kosciusko, Kalb, Steuben, 
and Lafayette. 

22. Kosciusko was a Pole who had fought in vain for 
the freedom of Poland. Kalb was a German who had, 
not long before the war, been sent as a secret agent 
by France to America to inquire into affairs there. 
Steuben was a German, a soldier by profession, who 
had learned the art of war under the greatest of Euro- 
pean generals. He was a famous drill-master, and did 
much to make the Revolutionary army a compact one. 

23. Lafayette was a young French nobleman, full of 
fiery zeal for freedom. He gave his money and, though 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 149 

his friends and the court tried to dissuade liim, he gave 
himself. He crossed the Atlantic, and was put at the 
head of a division of the army. He was a brave, cheer- 
ful leader of men, and from the first made himself 
beloved by Washington. 



CHAPTER XL. 

GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

1. The capital of our country, where the President 
lives and Congress meets, is called Washington. There 
is a State named Washington. Thirty of the States 
and Territories have each a county of Washington. 
There are about fifty post-offices in the country bear- 
ing the name, and it would be impossible to oay how 
many towns and cities have a Washington Street. 
Thousands of American citizens have for the first 
initials of their names, G. W., standing for George 
Washington. 

2. There is no other name in American history so 
universally known. This is not strange, for when the 
American people fought the War for Independence 
George Washington was commander-in-chief. When 
they formed the government of the United States, tlioy 
made him the first President. He was the only Presi- 
dent who ever received all the votes of the electors. 

?. Washington was born at Bridges Creek, near the 
Jt:'otomac River in Virginia, Feb. 22, 1732. His father 
was a planter, and lived as the Virginia gentlemen oi 
his day lived. His servants were slaves, living in their 
cabins a little way from the great house of the master. 
He had horses and cattle, and spent most of his time 



150 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

riding about his estate, meeting his neighbors, hunting 
and fishing, and taking part in the government of the 
colony. 

4. These Virginia planters were used to ruling. 
They did not work much with their hands, but they 
directed other men. Each estate was like a little king- 
dom, and the families that owned the estates were on 
equal terms with one another. The planters were not 
unlike the noblemen and gentry of England. 

5. In such a society George Washington grew up. 
His father died when he was eleven years old, but he 
had a wise, careful mother. He went to school, where 
he learned what little the master had to teach, but was 
most famous among his companions for his strength 
and skill in play. He could tame horses, was a swift 
runner, an agile wrestler, and could toss the bar farther 
than any one. 

6. He was a boy of strong passions and quick temper. 
That was nothing unusual ; but the remarkable thing is, 
that he began when quite young to master himself. The 
Bible says that " he that rulctli his spirit is better than 
he that taketh a city;" and Washington grew up so 
strong, that he was cool and self-possessed and just, 
though his spirit was fiery with passion. 

7. He had a great liking for the study of surveying, 
and he was very orderly in all his accounts and papers. 
He was studiously neat and exact in his work, for tliis 
was all a part of that complete command of himself 
which was to make him able to command others. His 
early copy-books are still to be seen. 

8. There was much talk in those days about the 
western lands : but the West meant, to Virginians, the 
country about the Ohio River. That country was a 



GifiUKGK WASHINGTON 151 

part of Tirglnia, and settlers were taking up its land. 
There was great need of surveys of the country, and 
Washington determined to become a land-surveyor. 

9. He began his work as early as when he was six- 
teen years old, and did it so thoroughly that he received 
an appointment as public surveyor. For three years he 
was hard at work, but during this time he also showed 
ix great interest in military life. 

10. The work of a surveyor, especially in a new coun- 
try and among Indians, was an excellent training for a 
soldier. It made him able to endure hardships, quick in 
invention, and expert in overcoming difficulties. 

11. When, therefore, at the age of nineteen, Washing- 
ton was appointed an officer over the militia of one of 
the districts of Virginia, he was already fitted for the 
duty, and he practiced diligently all the exercises of 
the soldiers. 

12. He was just of age, and held the rank of major, 
when the governor chose him to visit the Ohio River 
on an important errand. It was said that the French 
were building a fort on land which belonged to the Eng- 
lish, and Washington was sent to warn them to leave. 
He made the journey, which w^as a very dangerous one 
in the winter season, and acted so prudently that he 
delivered his message, found out what, the governor 
wished to know, and came back to report. 

13. He was now made a lieutenant-colonel. The Vir- 
ginians were aroused by the doings of the French, and 
they sent out men to build a fort at the most important 
point. Washington was sent with some men to sup- 
port them, but, on tlie way, learned that the Frencn 
had come down suddenly, driven away the builders of 
the fort, and finished it for their own use. 



152 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 



14. This was the fort against which General Brad- 
dock marched the next year. Washington went with 
him, as we have seen, and showed himself a brave and 
skillful soldier. He was now made commander-in-chief 
of the army of Virginia. He led the forces which after- 
ward took possession of the fort, in the French and 
Indian war. 

15. When that war was over, he returned to his estate, 
which had been greatly enlarged, for a brother had died 
and had left his land to him. He married, and was busy 
with his plantation; but all the while he watched the 
troubles of the colonies with Great Britain. He was a 
member of the Virginia assembly, and was heartily 
opposed to all those acts of England which were unjust 
to the colonies. 

16. Virginia sent him to the Continental Congress, 
and Congress, when the time came, chose him com- 
mander-in-chief of the American army. From that time 
he was the foremost man in America. 

17. The whole story of his life is like that of his 
youth. He belonged to the class of men who were in 
the habit of governing others. When the separation 
from Great Britain came,' the rich Tories in New Eng* 
land and New York left the country, and went to 
Canada and England. The Virginia planters lived 
like English lords, but they were lovers of freedom, 
and there were not many Tories among them. 

18. Washington learned his love of liberty from 
Virginians ; but he learned how to govern others by 
first governing himself. He was a tall, -'^^trong man, 
and every one who saw him was a little in awe of him. 
He did not laugh much, but he was a pleasant compan- 
ion. He had enemies, who hated him because he was 



A BUISTDLE OF 5TICKS., 153 

great, and because he was not easily moved to do as 
they wished him to do. But he thought first of his 
country and last of himself ; therefore his country has 
always honored him as its First Citizen, and he bears 
the name of the Father of his Country. 



CHAPTER XLI. 

A BUNDLE OF STICKS. 

1. When the War for Independence was over, there 
were thirteen States in America, which were no longer 
under the government of Great Britain. Each State 
had its own government, but there was also a Congress 
to which all the States sent representatives ; it was with 
this Congress that Great Britain made peace. 

2. The king did not sign thirteen treaties with thir- 
teen States; he signed one treaty with commissioners 
from the United States. But the United States of that 
day was very different from the United States which we 
know. There was no President chosen by the whole 
people, with his Cabinet officers to advise him ; there 
was no Senate, no House of Representatives ; there was 
no United States Court. There was only a Congress, 
which had very little power, because the people were 
unwilling to give it power. 

3. The thirteen colonies had gone to war, because 
each thought that the king was trying to rule it con- 
trary to the rights of English people. They had united 
for the war, because taey knew that thirteen colonies 
together would be stronger than thirteen fighting sepa- 
rately. The old fable of the bundle of sticks was shown 
to be true. 



154 A BUNDLE OF STICKS. 

4. A farmer's sons once had a quarrel. The farmer 
tried to make peace between them ; but though he used 
many words he could do nothing. So he bade them 
bring him some sticks. He tied these together into a 
bundle, and gave the bundle in turn to each of his sons 
and told him to break it. Each son tried, but could not. 
Then he untied the bundle, and gave them each one 
stick to break. This they did easily; and the farmer 
said : " So is it with you, my sons. If you are all of 
the same mind, your enemies can do you no harm ; but 
if you quarrel and become separated, they will easily get 
the better of you." 

5. The colonies tied themselves together, and England 
could not break them. But when there was no longer 
any enemy, they began to fall apart again. They were 
States now, and each State thought of itself and looked 
with suspicion on its neighbor State. 

6. Congress was hardly more than a committee. The 
States had been careful not to give it too much author- 
ity. They did not wish to break away from a king, and 
then set up a power over them which might be as un- 
just as a king. And since Congress was of so little 
account, the ablest men no longer belonged to it ; they 
were governors of States, or agents abroad. 

7. The government seemed to be falling to pieces. 
Congress could with difficulty bring enough members 
together to attend to business. Scarcely any one paid 
any attention to what it did ; least of all was it respected 
by foreign governments. John Adams, who had been 
sent as commissioner to England, could hardly get a 
hearing there. In fact, some members of the English 
government began to say that England might, after all, 
get possession of the weak States again. 




John Quincy Adams. 

Born July ii, 1767; died February 23, 1848. 
Sixth President of the United States. 



156 THE NEW GOVERNMENT. 

8. Still, the people of the States really did know one 
another better than before the war. They had fought side 
by side, and the leaders now wrote long letters to one 
another about the state of affairs. They were anxious 
that the country should not lose the good it had se- 
cured. Neighboring States held conventions for settling 
questions about trade that had arisen among them. 

9. It was a great help that all spoke the same lan- 
guage, that all had much the same religion, and lived 
under laws and forms of government which did not 
greatly differ ; in short, there were many more points 
in which they agreed than there were in which they dif- 
fered. Besides, they saw that they were likely to fall 
into fresh difficulties with England, and this made them 
all wish for some union of action. 



CHAPTER XLII. 

THE NEW GOVERNMENT. 

1. The people living in the United States had long 
been used to settling their own difficulties. They knew 
how to carry on town-meetings, and State assemblies, 
and a general Congress. Whenever they found them- 
selves face to face with a hard problem, they called a 
meeting and talked it over. Moreover, the several States 
had charters, and constitutions, and written laws. 

2. So now the States called a Convention, which met 
in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787. This Conven- 
tion drew up, with great care, a Constitution which be- 
gins with these words : " We the people of the United 
States, in order to form a more perfect union, estab- 
lish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for 



THE NEW GOVERNMENT. 



157 



the common defense, promote the general welfare, and 
secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our pos- 
terity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the 
United States of America." 

3. The Constitution then declares that the govern 
ment of the United States shall be in a Congress which 




Interior of Independence Hall. 



is to make the laws, a President who shall see that the 
laws are carried out, and judges who shall decide dis- 
putes and try offenders against the laws. 

4. It further says that this government shall act for 
the people in all dealings with foreign governments ; thai 
it shall provide for the defense of the people against 
enemies ; that it may make war in the name of the 
people ; and that it shall take charge of all those mat- 
ters, like the post-office, and the care of public lands, 
which concern all the States and not some single one. 



158 THE NEW GOVERNMENT. 

5. The members of the Convention talked long and 
earnestly over a Constitution. Two or three differeno 
plans were discussed, before they could agree on the 
best. Then they sent to each of the States a copy of 
the Constitution as they finally wrote it. It was not 
to be the law of the land until the people in at least 
nme States had accepted it. 

6. The people now took up the matter. There were 
not many newspapers in those days, but they were all 
tilled with articles and letters about the new Constitu- 
tion. Especially, those members of the Convention who 
had worked hard in shaping the Constitution now did 
their best to explain it, and show that it would work 
well. 

7. It was the great topic everywhere. Whenever a 
few men got together, in a country store or by the fire- 
side, they were sure to have a debate on this subject. 
Then the several States held conventions to decide 
whether or no they would adopt the Constitution. 

8. There were many who talked earnestly against it. 
They were afraid the States would lose their separate 
existence, and be swallowed up in one great State. But 
the greater number remembered the confusion of the 
past few years. If they did not adopt this Constitution, 
and have a more perfect union, when would they evei 
have peace and security ? 

9. So, one by one, the States accepted the Constitu- 
tion. At last eleven States had igreed together, and 
tlie new government began. Shortly after, the remaining 
two States also accepted the Constitution. 

10. There was no doubt as to who should be the first 
President. George Washington was the choice of all ; 



THE GOVERNMENT AT WORK. 159 

delay, the men came together who had been chosen in 
the different States to be members of Congress ; Wash- 
ington appointed the first judges ; ambassadors were 
sent to foreign countries, and the United States was 
one of the world's nations. 



CHAPTER XLIII. 

THE GOVERNMENT AT WORK. 

1. The American people had been so used to seeing a 
feeble Congress, that they did not at first have much 
faith in the new government. But it had been well 
planned; it was in the hands of men who were thor- 
oughly in earnest ; it gave the people a feeling that they 
were . united, and it removed a thousand difficulties in 
their trade with other countries. In a short time, no 
one wished the country back in its old ways ; even 
those who had opposed the Constitution were now its 
friends. 

2. Washington's first act was to surround himself 
with able men, who should be his advisers. He chose 
for his cabinet four men, two of whom were heartily in 
favor of the Constitution, and two had been opposed to 
it. The secretary of state was Thomas Jefferson, and 
the attorney-general was Edmund Randolph. Both of 
these men had preferred a confederation of the States 
to a strong union. 

The secretary of war was General Knox ; the 
secretary of the treasury was Alexander Hamilton. 
These two men were ardent friends of the Constitution 
and union, and Hamilton, especially, had worked hard 
to bring about the new state of things. Thus the first 



IGO THE GOVERNMENT AT WORK 

President did not think it necessary to have about him 
only those who thought just as he did ; he wished to 
find the wisest and ablest men to set the government in 
motion. 

4. The most important business was to provide some 
means for paying what the country owed. The United 
States of America was beginning life not merely poor, 
but deeply in debt. To carry on the war, the old Con- 
federation had borrowed money, both in Europe and in 
America. Besides, each of the States had borrowed 
money for the same purpose. 

5. The United States was the old Confederation with 
a new name. It was bound to pay its debts. But 
sliould it also pay the debts which the separate States 
owed ? Those who wished to make a strong union were 
in favor of this. They saw that if the States turned 
over their debts to the United States, they would have 
also to give the United States power to raise money to 
pay these debts, and that would strengthen the general 
government. 

6. Congress was almost evenly divided on this ques- 
tion, and it was finally decided in tliis way. The strong- 
est opposition came from the southern members, headed 
by Jefferson. Now, these members were very eager to 
have the capital of the country in the south. The 
northern members preferred to have the capital at Phila- 
delphia ; and it seemed likely that there would be a 
sharp debate over this question. Hamilton, who had 
brought in the plan for paying the debt, went to Jeffer- 
son, and said he would persuade his friends to vote for 
a southern position for the capital, if Jefferson's friends 
would vote that the United States should assume the 
debts of the States. 




Andrew Jackson. 

dom March 15, 1767 ; died January 8, 1845* 
Seventh Presiden* of the United States. 



162 THE NEW WORLD AND THE OLD. 

7. Thus it was brought about. The present site was 
chosen for the capital, and Hamilton's plan was adopted. 
The United States had no money in the treasury with 
which to pay the debt, but it had vast areas of unoccu- 
pied land which it could sell, and it had the right to 
raise money by taxation in various ways. So it issued 
" promises to pay " to all the creditors of the old Con- 
federation and the thirteen separate States. 

8. The people of the colonies had rebelled, when 
England undertook to tax them without giving them 
any voice in the matter. Now, the United States was 
taxing the same people, but the people had a voice in 
the matter ; they chose the men who laid the taxes, 
Tliey grumbled, for they were poor ; but they knew very 
well that government could not be carried on without 
money, and they were, at any rate, their own masters. 

CHAPTER XLIV. 

THE NEW WORLD AND THE OLD. 

1. The United States was now an independent na- 
tion. It had its own government, and it had possession 
of nearly all the country south of Canada and east of 
the Mississippi River. The country west of the Missis- 
sippi belonged to Spain, which also owned what is now 
the State of Florida. 

2. There were but few settlers in the great valleys of 
the Ohio and Mississippi. The population was mainly 
between the Alleghany Mountains and the Atlantic 
Ocean, and the people still had a great deal to do with 
Europe. They had not yet begun to manufacture many 
goods, and they depended chiefly on England and France 
for what they needed. 



THE NEW WORLD AND THE OLD. 163 

3. The people in Europe, on the other hand, were very 
much interested in the United States. The French offi- 
cers and soldiers, who had helped the new nation to ac- 
quire its independence, returned home, and everywhere 
spread accounts of the Republic. The Constitution of 
the United States, and those of the several States, were 
translated into French. Many travelers came across to 
see the new nation, and a great many books, pamphlets, 
and papers about America were scattered throughout 
France and England. 

4. The English had of course, before the war, more 
trade with America than any other country had, for 
the two peoples were united in language, government, 
and race ; besides, England had made laws which com- 
pelled the colonists to trade only with the mother- 
country. The war interrupted this trade ; but when 
peace came, English merchants again sent their ships 
and goods across the seas. 

5. While the Americans had more business with Eng- 
land, they had a very friendly feeling toward France. 
They had just been fighting the English, and France had 
helped them. Besides, the war was scarcely over, before 
France herself entered upon a Revolution which greatly 
interested Americans. 

6. For generations, the French people had been under 
rulers who gave them no liberty. Wlien, therefore, they 
saw the people of the British colonies in America rise 
Krgainst the government, and become free and indepen- 
dent, they thought of their own wretched condition. 
The French people rose and overthrew the govern- 
ment. They put their king to death, and chose their 
own rulers, and set up an Assembly much like the 
American Congress. 



164 THE NEW WORLD AND THE OLD. 

7. At first all seemed to go oii well. But unfortu- 
nately the French people had not been trained, as the 
Americans had been, to govern themselves. They had 
had no town-meetings ; they were not used to repre- 
sentative assemblies. 

8. Therefore, after getting rid of the king, they did 
not know how to proceed in an orderly way to set up a 
new government. Their leaders led them this way and 
that. The cruel wrongs they had suffered made them 
ready to take vengeance on their old rulers. They began 
to put to death the friends of the king, and to take 
away their property. 

9. Soon, the leaders became jealous of one another, 
and each treated the other as an enemy of his country. 
Such a period of bloodshed and misery followed that 
it has been called the Reign of Terror. It came to an 
end only when one leader, stronger than the others, 
gathered the power into his hands. 

10. This was Napoleon Bonaparte, and for a while he 
was the great man of France. He was an able general, 
and rapidly became so powerful that he caused himself 
to be proclaimed Emperor, and the French Republic, 
which had been set up when the kingdom was over- 
thrown, became the French Empire. 

11. It was impossible that France should have this 
turmoil, and not come into difficulties with other na- 
tions. No nation is without neighbors, and France had 
a neighbor who was an old enemy. It was not long 
before France and England were at war. It was a war 
which finally drew all the nations of Europe to one side 
or the other. 



THE UNITED STATES AND EUROPE. 165 

CHAPTER XLV. 

THE UNITED STATES AND EUROPE. 

1. Meanwhile, the United States found its business 
increasing, for its ships were carrying goods not only 
between Europe and America, but between different 
countries in Europe. Since French vessels could not 
enter English ports, and English vessels could not enter 
French ports, American vessels carried cargoes back 
and forth for the two nations. 

2. The troubles in Europe brought another advantage 
to America, greater than any one at the time imagined. 
Spain, which was an ally of France, made over to that 
country all its possessions in North America except 
Mexico and Florida. 

3. The United States had been seriously annoyed, 
because the Spanish owned the island on which New 
Orleans stands, and so took toll of all vessels that 
passed down the Mississippi into the Gulf of Mexico. 
Accordingly, as soon as the government learned that 
Spain had given this island, with other territory, to 
France, Thomas Jefferson, who was then President, sent 
commissioners to Paris to buy the island from France 
if possible. 

4. Now, Napoleon was at this time expecting a new 
war with England. He knew very well that France 
had no navy which could protect the mouth of the 
Mississippi River, and he did not wish the Mississippi 
Valley to fall into the hands of the English. So he 
offered to sell to the United States, not the little island 
alone, but the whole of that vast territory which France 
bad just received from Spain. 



166 THE UNITED STATES AND EUROPE. 

5. The United States bought this territory, and thus 
its possessions extended from the Atlantic Ocean to the 
Rocky Mountains. Many persons, especially in New 
England, shook their heads over the purchase ; but it 
was one of the most important acts in the early history 
of the Union. 

6. It could not be expected that, while war was rag- 
ing in Europe, the United States should be able to keep 
wholly out of the quarrel. Each of the countries at 
war threatened to drag her into the conflict. 

7. England issued a series of orders which bore hard 
upon American merchants and sailors. She claimed the 
right to lay hold of any supplies for the enemy, which 
she might find in a vessel belonging to any other coun- 
try ; to seize the produce of French colonies wherever 
found; and to make search on any vessel for seamen of 
British birth, and carry them off for her own service. 

8. France, on the other hand, claimed the right to 
seize all vessels trading with England or her colonies. 
Thus each country began to seize American vessels, and 
President Jefferson tried to punisli them both, by per- 
suading Congress to pass a bill forbidding all American 
vessels to leave American ports for Europe. Foreign 
vessels, also, were forbidden to land cargoes. 

9. The object of this bill was to cripple European, and 
especially English, trade. But England did not need our 
trade so much as we needed hers ; and the chief effect of 
the Embargo, as the bill was called, was to stop business 
in the ports from wiiich American vessels sailed. It 
soon appeared that the United States could not get along 
without Europe. 

10. The United States and England grew more irri- 
tated with each other. The English continued to se'ze 




Henry Clay, Statesman. 

Born April 12, 1777 ; died June 29, i555'- 



168 



THE UNITED STATES AND ^EUROPE. 



vessels and men. More than nine hundred vessels had 
been seized during ten years, and several thousand 
American seamen had been pressed into the British 
service. This could not go on. In 1812 the United 
States declared war against Great Britain. 




11. The war lasted about 
two years. The most famous 
battles were fought at sea, and 
on the Great Lakes between 
Canada and the United States. 
American sailors won some 

splendid victories. England, meanwhile, had defeated 
Napoleon, and the war in Europe was coming to an 
end. There was no longer any need of interfering with 
trade, and both England and the United States were 
glad to sign a treaty of peace. 



110 Longitude 100 




THE GROWTH OF THE COUNTRY. 169 

CHAPTER XLVI. 

THE GROWTH OF THE COUNTRY. 

1. When the second war with England was fought, 
there were some men in the American army who had 
taken part in the War for Independence, but they were 
men of sixty years and upward. Most of the sol- 
diers had never before seen a British soldier. They 
had grown up in the United States, and had known 
no other government. 

2. Instead of the thirteen States with which the 
Union began, there were now eighteen, and in six years 
more there were twenty-four. Instead of the Missis- 
sippi River being the western boundary, the country 
now stretched to the Rocky Mountains, and some ad- 
venturous men had even made settlements beyond those 
mountains. In a very few years Florida was given up 
by Spain, and became a part of the Union. 

3. The people were glad that the war was over. Their 
ships could again sail freely over all seas. They could 
go to work once more, and there was a gi'eat deal to 
be done. There were roads to be bui]t, clearings to be 

iiade in the forests, and mines to be worked. 

4. They knew that they were in a great country whicl 
jvas wonderfully rich, and they were eager to occup; 
[t. One after another pushed farther into the wilder 
ness, and word came back of fertile plains and broad 
rivers, of hills where iron and coal abounded, and of 
vast herds of buffalo and other game. 

5. In a country which had so long a stretch of sea- 
Coast, and such lakes and rivers, it was natural to use 



170 THE GROWTH OF THE COUNTRY. 

boats for travel as much as possible. The families 
moving westward floated down the Ohio, on rafts and 
in flat-boats. Persons who wished to travel from New 
England to the southern States went in sloops and 
schooners, and, in the extreme west, the Mississippi 
River was a great highway. 

6. The roads, except close by the few towns, were 
rough, and stages were very slow. It was easier to 
move large goods by water, and, where there were no 
rivers, canals were dug. Canals were very common in 
Europe, and they seemed to Americans the best means 
of connecting distant parts of their country. 

7. The most famous of these canals in America is the 
Erie, which extends from Lake Erie, across the State of 
New York, to the Hudson River. It was eight years in 
building, and was then the longest canal in the world. 
Not long before it was begun, a very important inven- 
tion was made. For many years, ingenious persons had 
been trying experiments with steam. They had found 
out how to drive machinery with it, and now they were 
trying to apply it to boats. 

8. The first steamboats were odd affairs. One was 
made which would go as well on land as on the water, 
and not very well on either. At last, a persevering 
American, Robert Fulton, built a steamboat, to run on 
the Hudson River between New York and Albany. 
While he was building it, people laughed at him, and 
called it '' Fulton's folly." 

9. It was not a perfect steamboat. It sent great 
showers of sparks and a column of smoke into the air : 
its machinery and paddles made a prodigious noise, and 
frightened the sailors on the boats which it passed ; but it 
moved up the river without oars, against wind and tide. 



THE GROWTH OF THE COUNTRY. 



17 



lO. After Fulton's success, improvements were rap 
idly made ; but steamboats had been running for twenty 
years before men succeeded in using steam for carriages 
on land. At first, the locomotives, like the steamboats, 




••The Clermont," Fulton's first Steamboat. 

were very clumsy, and people supposed the wheels would 
slip on the rails ; so they made the rails and wheels with 
cogs, but they quickly found this was not necessary. 

11. About the time that railroads began to be built, 
that is, near the end of the first quarter of this century, 



172 



THE GROWTH OF THE COUNTRY- 



men found out how to work iron ore by means of hard 
coal. As the coal and iron were in great abundance, 
especially in Pennsylvania, and near to each other, a 
large business in working iron sprang up. 

12. It was a long while, however, before coal was 
used much, except in the neighborhood where it was 
dug. There were still great forests standing all over 
the country. Wood was abundant and cheap, and was 




The first Passenger Locomotive built in tiie United States. 



used both on steamboats and on locomotives. A story 
is told of a sea-captain who brought some coal from 
Philadelphia to his New England home. He told his 
wife that it was used for fuel, and she tried to burn 
it on the hearth, but it would not burn. He described 
a grate. She had never seen such a thing, and the 
nearest they could come to one was to take e gridiron 
and try to make a fire of coals on that! 



THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH. 1Y3 

CHAPTER XLVIL 

THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH. L 

1. The War of 1812 did much to destroy the com* 
merce of New England ; but, meanwhile, something was 
occurring which did more to change the life of New 
England than any war could do. Before this, the peo- 
ple, except as they sailed their ships, had not much to 
do with other parts of the Union. 

2. They lived on their small farms or worked as 
mechanics. Now and then a peddler stocked his wagon 
and drove into New York State or even farther south ; 
but most of the trade was done by vessels, and there 
was more trade with Great Britain than with the 
Southern States. 

3. But when the war was over, all this was changed, 
and New England and the Southern States were brought 
into close connection with each other. In the South, 
the people gave most of their attention to raising tobacco 
and cotton. Tobacco does not require much machinery 
to make it convenient for use. The leaves are dried, 
and there is little else to be done. 

4. It is not so with cotton. The pods of this plant 
contain down mixed with seeds, and, before the down 
can be used, the seeds must be picked out by a machine ; 
then the down is packed into bales and pressed. All 
this is done where the cotton is raised ; but to make use 
or the cotton as thread or cloth, it needs to be cleaned 
dnd combed, and then spun or woven. 

5. Formerly, this spinning and weaving were done by 
hand ; flax and wool, also, were spun and woven by hand. 



174 THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH. 

In old farin-liouscs one may still find in the garret tlie 
spinning-wlieel or loom which our great-grandmothers 
used. But so entirely has this work ceased, that the 
old spinning-wheels are now used as mere ornaments 
in the parlor. 

6. Not long before the War of 1812, cotton cloth 
began to be manufactured in England by machinery, 
and soon similar factories were started in New England. 
The mountain streams, which widened into rivers, like 
the Mcrrimac and Concord, furnished water for turn- 
ing the mill-wheels. On the banks of these and other 
streams, factories were built, and towns gathered about 
the factories. 

7. It was necessary to have men and women to work 
in the factories, and there was no difticulty in finding 
them. Young women, especially, who had used the 
spinning-wheel at home, came to the factory town to 
work. They could earn more money, and they liked 
to be among people. It was more cheerful in the busy 
towns than on the solitary farms in the country. 

8. In the long winter evenings, they gathered in halls 
and churches, and listened to lecturers and preachers. 
They had debating clubs and lending libraries, and read 
books and newspapers diligently. A change was silently 
going on. The farms were being deserted for the mills. 
Towns grew and flourished, while the country became 
more lonely. 

9. From being chiefly a farming and seafaring people, 
the New Englanders became a manufacturing and trading 
people. As they bought cotton of the South, they sold, 
to Southern planters, cotton cloth and a great many other 
goods which they manufactured ; they had, too, much of 
the carrying trade between Europe and the South. 



THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH. 175 

10. In this way, New England and the Southern 
States were brought very close together. Many South- 
ern boys were sent to New England to be educated 
m the schools and colleges there, and many New 
Englanders went to the South, to engage in business 
or to teach in families. 

11. Trade increased also between New England and 
other parts of the globe. Since there were now great 
manufactories, the merchants had more goods to send 
away. Since thei3 were growing cities and towns, they 
needed to buy mere goods from other countries. Ships 
sailed from New England ports not only to the South 
and to Europe, but to Asiatic countries as well. 



CHAPTER XL VIII. 

THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH. II. 

1. When the Southern boys came to the North, they 
found busy towns and small farms. Almost all the 
people worked with their hands or tools, and almost 
everybody could read and write. When they went 
back to their homes in the South, they returned to a 
very different kind of life. 

2. The Southern planter was not like the Northern 
farmer, and Southern towns were not like Northern 
towns. There were very few towns, indeed, and only 
two or three on the sea-coast, like Charleston and 
New Orleans, which could be called cities. There 
was no whir of machinery heard, for there were no 
manufactories. 

3. The two parts of the country were almost as differ- 
ent from each other as two separate countries. They 



176 THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH. 

spoke the same language, it is true, and had the same 
form of government ; but the habits of the people were 
not the same, and the people themselves thought dif- 
ferently about many important matters. 

4. The first thing that would strike a traveler, going 
from the North to the South, would be the great number 
of black men and women. These blacks were the slaves 
of the whites, and this "system of slavery marked the 
chief difference between the two parts of the country. 

5. Slaves were brought to Virginia very early in the 
history of the country. They were to be found in all 
the colonies, for at that time very few people thought 
it wrong to keep slaves. Some of the Indians were 
made slaves, and, after an Indian war in New England, 
many Indians, who were captured, were sold into slavery, 
and sometimes sent to the West India Islands. 

6. But the blacks were not common in the Northern 
States. They were sometimes employed as house ser- 
vants, but they did not work much in the fields or shops. 
Tliis was partly because the colder climate was unsuited 
to them, partly because they were mainly ignorant, and 
were of little use where skillful and industrious laborers 
were needed. 

7. It was a simple matter to work on the tobacco and 
cotton plantations of the South. This did not require 
skill ; it required only patience and strong hands. The 
planter lived in his large house and rode out over his 
fields to see if the work were done ; but the work itself 
was done by his slaves. 

8. It seemed to him much the best way of carrying 
on his plantation. He bought the negroes, who were 
brought over from Africa, or were the descendants of 
such, and they worked for him as long as they could. 



THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH. 



177 



He fed them, gave them houses to live in, and little 
garden-plats for their own use. When they were sick, 
or grew old, he took care of them. 




rkJPh '^ ^' ^^^ played with the little chil- 

dren, and they w^erc first playmates for 



'"'^"^^^l/ his own children and then their ser- 

iji^'i vants. The slaves about, the house 

1, 'j were the most intelligent, and they 

often became greatly attached to their 

masters and mistresses. The less intelligent slaves 

were kept at work in the fields. 

10. Except in some of the mountain districts, the 
white man and the black rarely worked together. The 



178 THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH. 

whites seldom worked with their hands. They were 
so used to having all labor of this kind done by their 
slaves, that they thought it a disgrace to work. Those 
who were too poor to own slaves were yet ashamed to 
tvork, and led idle, ignorant lives. 



CHAPTER XLIX. 

THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH. HI. 

1. Jefferson and others like him, who lived in the 
midst of slavery, wished at first to be rid of it. They 
saw that it was as bad for the whites as for the blacks, 
and that it was a wasteful system. One of the wisest 
acts of Jefferson ^^as to have laws passed, by which 
slavery was forbidden in the new country north of the 
Ohio. 

2. Congress tried to stop the growth of slavery, by 
passing laws that no slaves should be brought into the 
country after a certain day. But when that time came, 
there were already a great many slaves in the South ; 
their children were slaves, and only now and then was 
a slave made free by his master. A great business had 
grown up in the buying and selling of men and women, 
and the persons engaged in it did not mean that it 
should be stopped. 

3. After tlie War for Independence, slavery had 
rapidly died out in the North. The States, one by 
one, made slavery unlawful. But in the South, slavery 
increased. The mills in England and New England 
wanted cotton. The best came from the Southern 
States. The planters enlarged their fields, and needed 
more men and women to pick the cotton, so the one 




John Caldwell Calhoun, Statesman. 
Born March i8, 1782 , died March 31, 1850- 



180 THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH. 

who had the largest number of slaves could send the 
most cotton to market. 

4. The more slaves a man had, tlie richer he was 
thought to be. People soon became used to this state 
of things, and forgot that they or their fathers ever 
wanted it to come to an end. Instead, quick-witted 
men reasoned that it was the only true way of living, at 
any rate, in the South ; they even persuaded themselves 
that the Bible approved of it. 

5. Since the masters had not to work, they had leisure 
for other things. They visited their friends. Those who 
liked books had large libraries. They traveled abroad, 
and often sent their children abroad to be educated, for 
there were few good schools or colleges at the South. 

6. At the North, there was no great difference between 
different families. Some were richer than others, some 
had more leisure ; but all could have much the same 
education. All voted at the polls, and had a voice in 
the government. 

7. At the South, there were three classes. There 
were the slaves, who were not educated, had no right 
to vote, and indeed had no rights at all ; they only had 
duties, — they were to obey their masters. Then there 
were the poor whites, who had no slaves. They were 
not educated. They could vote, but they knew little of 
the great questions which their votes helped to settle. 

8. The third class was that of the planters, and other 
rich men. They held the power, and they took care that 
no harm should come to slavery. They were well agreed 
in this, however much they might differ on other points. 
Thus, when there were any laws to be made at Wash- 
ington, the members of Congress from the South were 
always united, if they thought slavery was in danger. 



THE EAST AND THE WEST. 181 

The South was governed by a few men. The great 
majority of the people had little or nothing to say about 
the government. 

9. All this while, the Southern States were in very 
much the same condition as when they were colonies 
of Great Britain. They were still planting-communities. 
The land was owned by a few men. Yet in the high 
mountain regions there were large tracts of country 
where a black man was rarely seen. The people there 
lived on small farms, but they were out of the Tvay of 
the rest of tlie world, and scarcely knew what wa> Toing 
on, except in their own neighborhood. 



CHAPTER L. 

THE EAST AND THE WEST. I. 

1. Midway between the North and the South vras » 
collection of States, commonly known as the Middle 
States. Their larg'^st seaport cities were New York 
and Philadelphia. 

2. During the War for Independence, New York wafe 
in the hands of the British. The great harbor and bay 
held the vessels of the navy which the English sent 
over, and the place was so central that it was an excel- 
lent headquarters. Yet New York at that time was not 
a very important town. It used to be described as a 
place near Newport, Rhode Island. 

3. After the war, the port of New York rapidly be- 
came of greater importance. Thanks to the wisdom of 
those who dealt with the Indians, there was peace with 
the tribes which lived in the Mohawk valley. New 
England farmers began to settle in this valley, and 



182 THE EAST AND THE WEST. 

found the rich soil very different from the rocky up^ 
lands of their old home. 

4. This great valley also was the highway to the 
Western Lakes, and long Imes of carts and wagons 
traveled through it, on their way to Ohio. The roads 
were improved, and as farmers formed settlements in 
what was then the West, they sent back loads of wheat 
and droves of cattle to Albany, and so down the Hudson 
to New York. 

5. The Erie Canal gave a great impulse to the growth 
of the city of New York. It opened a direct water-way 
from Lake Erie, and the canal-boats which reached the 
Hudson River floated to the city at its mouth, where 
they were unloaded, and ships carried their cargoes to 
other parts of the world. 

6. Thus New York City became more and more the 
door through which people and goods entered and left 
America. Trade increased. People flocked thither to 
do business, and the neighboring country became the 
market-garden for feeding the people in the city. 

7. Philadelphia, when the United States was formed, 
was the most extensive and most flourishing city in the 
country. Here the Continental Congress sat ; here the 
Declaration of Independence was signed ; here the Con- 
stitution of the United States was adopted. It was, 
besides, the chief city of a great State. 

8. The Friends, who had first settled Pennsylvania, 
continued to give character to the State. Their orderly 
ways, their temperate habits and industry had done 
much to make the State prosperous. The Germans, who 
came over early, were thrifty farmers who settled chiefly 
in the eastern and middle parts of the State. In the 
western portion were Scotch and Irish. 




Daniel Webster, Statesman. 

Born January i8, 1782 ; died October 24, 1852. 



184 THE EAST AND THE WEST. 

9. The State was, for the most part, a farming one, 
until after the War of 1812. Then men began to dis- 
cover how rich the mountains were in coal and iron and 
other minerals. They opened mines and built furnaces. 

10. With coal and iron at hand, it was natural, when 
steam came to be used, to build factories for the making 
of iron goods. Manufactures increased, and the State 
grew rich. It was a State which might be said to stand 
almost independent of other States. Its farmers could 
feed its mechanics ; its mechanics could manufacture 
whatever the people needed ; a city upon a broad river, 
flowing into a great bay, made a place for trade with 
other States and countries. 

11. But Pennsylvania also offered a direct route to 
the West through the gaps in the Alleghany Mountains. 
The two great States of New York and Pennsylvania 
thus held the principal roads, over which the people of 
the Atlantic coast took their way to the western 
country. 

CHAPTER LL 

THE EAST AND THE WEST. II. 

1. When the war between France and England was 
over, and the western country beyond the Alleghanies 
came into English hands, people knew very little about 
that country. The French had built forts at various 
points, which now were occupied by the English. A few 
settlers gathered about them, but the principal business 
was trade with the Indians. 

2. When the War for Independence was over, a few 
years later, the soldiers who had fought in the war found 



THE EAST AND THE WEST. 185 

themselves very poor. Congress had not been able to 
pay them in money, and their own farms had often gone 
to waste from neglect. But Congress paid them partly 
in western lands. Tiie several States on the Atlantic 
coast each declared that it owned the land directly west 
of itself as far as the Mississippi River ; but they agreed, 
when the United States was formed, to give this land to 
the Union. 

3. Washington took great interest in this western 
country. He had surveyed parts of it, and he owned 
some of the land. He advised officers and soldiers to 
go there and settle. Many such, as well as others, did 
go, and the land, especially on the banks of the great 
rivers, was occupied with clearings. 

4. So many went into the western country, that, as 
we have seen, President Jefferson found it expedient to 
buy New Orleans, that the United States might have 
a right of way to the Gulf of Mexico. His purchase 
of the great country west of the Mississippi River in 
creased the interest in the West, though it was many 
years before the new land was visited much, except by 
hunters and trappers. 

5. There were so many people between the Alleghany 
Mountains and the Mississippi River, that four new Statei^ 
were formed between the years 1792 and 1812. They 
were Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, and Louisiana. Four 
more States were added in the four years after the War 
of 1812, — Indiana, Mississippi, Illinois, and Alabama. 

6. From this time, there was a steady stream of popu- 
lation flowing toward the western country. At first, it 
was composed chiefly of persons who had been living in 
the United States east of the Alleghany and Cumberland 
mountains. Along the great highways, and by trails 



186 



THE EAST AND THE WEST. 



across the prairies, one might see long trains of wagons. 
They contained the family goods, and carried women 
and children ; the men marched behind with guns over 
their shoulders, or rode on horseback. They drove 
slieep and cattle which they were taking to their new 
'i< lines. 



Ss^-.,^^ ^^:SLa«OT=^^ 




A Western Emigrant Train. 



7. At night they camped by streams of water, when 
tliey could. They built their camp-fires, and kept guard 
all night, for they could hear the howling of wolves, and 
sometimes see Indians stealing toward them. There 
were many fights between the Indians and the settlers 
in the new country. They could not live together, for 



THE EAST AND THE WEST. 187 

the whites cultivated the ground, while the Indians 
only came to hunt. 

8. The United States government tried to settle diffi- 
culties. After a war with an Indian tribe, it would 
make a treaty, and buy the land occupied by the Indians ; 
then it would move the whole tribe to a place far dis- 
tant, and say they should be undisturbed. But by and 
by the white population, moving westward, would again 
reach the Indians, and want their new lands. 

9. Thus the government pushed the Indians more 
and more out of the way. No wonder there were wars 
and cruel deeds. The Indians looked upon the whites 
as their enemies. They found the government did not 
keep its word. Treaties were broken. The Indian could 
answer only with the tomahawk, the blazing fagot, and 
the scalping-knife. 

10. Yet the Indians in the country have increased in 
number, in spite of these hardships and wars. They 
are not dying out. The white people, too, are learning 
to do them justice. They are asking themselves why 
the Indian should not own a piece of land as well as 
the white man ; why he should not live as the white 
man lives, be educated like him, and like him live under 
the laws. 

11. Indeed, while the government has often been 
negligent or indifferent, the people have been trying in 
many ways to christianize the Indians. Missionaries 
and teachers have made their home among them, and 
schools have been established, like those at Hampton, 
Va., and Carlisle, Pa., where Indians are taught the arts 
of peace, and trained to teach their own people. 



188 THE EAST AND THE WEST. 

CHAPTER LII. 

THE EAST AND THE WEST. HI. 

1. It was not only the people in the Atlantic States, 
who were occupying the western country. The wars in 
Europe, which came to an end when the War of 1812 
was over, left the countries there heavily in debt. In- 
stead of tilling the soil, and manufacturing, the people 
had been destroying property and killing one another. 
War costs a great deal of money, and the people 
who suffer most from it are the poor, and the day 
laborers. 

2. Europe was therefore a hard place to live in, and 
those who were distressed heard of a great country 
beyond the sea, called America, where there was land 
enough for every one. They heard, too, that there were 
not men and women enough to do all the work that 
was needed, in tilling the soil, in digging canals, and 
in building railroads. 

3. So the poor, who had a little money left, began to 
get their goods together, and take passage to America. 
And now was seen a wonderful sight. There was no 
great army gathering on the European shore to attack 
America, but there was a multitude of families, each 
coming singly and peacefully, but all together making 
a mightier army than ever was gathered. 

4. Those who came first quickly found work to do, 
and money for their work. They saved their money, 
and sent it back to bring over their friends. The news 
spread, and every year more came across the water. 
There was a famine in Ireland in 1847, and people in 




Martin Van Buren. 

Born December s, 1782; died July 24, 1863. 
Eighth Prebident of the United States. 



190 THE EAST AND THE WEST. 

the United States generously sent money and shiploads 
of grain, in aid of the sufferers. The gift showed that 
America was the land of plenty, and a great emigration 
from Ireland began. 

5. At first, these emigrants from Europe stayed mainly 
in the East. There were not enough men and women 
to work in the mills and factories, and there were not 
enough women for housewoi^. So these new-comers 
quickly found places. They were used to low wages 
and to inexpensive living, and it w^as not long before 
the men and women, who had been working in the mills 
and factories, gave place to these new-comers. Many, 
unwilling to work side by side with the foreigners, 
at the price for which the foreigners would work, 
joined the companies w^hich went West. 

6. As the railroads were built, the emigrants from 
Europe worked upon them, and w^ere drawn farther 
away from the seaboard. The Germans and Norwe- 
gians and Swedes, who w^ere farmers at home, were 
attracted by the great fertile plains of the West. The 
railroad companies wished to sell the land which they 
owned, and to build up villages along their routes. 
The steamship companies wanted passengers. So these 
great corporations sent agents to Europe, who scattered 
advertisements everywhere, and made it easy for men 
of every nation to come to America. 

7. Yet there were not men enough, and this made 
Americans eacrer to contrive machines which should 
do the work of men. This was especially the case in 
farming. The broad fields of the West were very fruit- 
ful ; but the farmer who owned a great tract could not 
find men enough to help him cultivate the fields after 
the old fashion. He set his wits to work to invent 



FREE STATES AND SLAVE. 191 

machines which should prepare the ground, sow the 
seed, and reap the crop. 

8. As the West became more settled, and railroads 
were built, the old and the new parts of the country 
were brought closer together. The people in the East, 
busy with manufactures, were fed with bread made from 
flour which was ground from wheat raised on the West- 
ern prairies. In turn, they made the cotton and woolen 
goods, the boots and shoes, the knives and tools, which 
were needed in the West. Thus no part of the Union 
could say to another, " We have no need of you." 



CHAPTER LIII. 

FREE STATES AND SLAVE. 

1. As the great country in the West became occupied, 
one State after another was added to the Union. The 
new States north of the Ohio River came in as free 
States. Not only were they settled, mainly, by emi- 
grants from the older free States, but the laws made, 
before the Constitution was framed, had forever ex- 
cluded slavery from the Northwest Territory. 

2. The new States south of the Ohio came into the 
Union as slave States. They were formed from territory 
given to the Union by the older slave States. They were 
settled by families from those States, who carried their 
slaves with them, and observed the laws and ways to 
which they had been used. 

3. But, when the Mississippi was crossed, and settle- 
ments began to be made in the great territory originally 
called Louisiana, the Question arose whether the States 
made from it were to be slave States or free. 



192 FREE STATES AND SLAVE. 

4. The first discussion was over the admission of the 
Territory of Missouri as a State ; for, before the new parts 
of the country become States, on an equality with other 
States in the Union, they are formed into Territories, 
having governors appointed by the President. It was 
the duty of Congress to decide whether Missouri should 
come in as a free State or a slave State, and for more 
than a year this question was discussed. 

•5. Ever since the Union had been formed, people had 
been uneasy about slavery. The Declaration of Indepen- 
dence begins with the words : " We hold these truths to 
be self-evident : that all men are created equal ; that they 
are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable 
rights ; that among these are life, liberty, and pursuit of 
happiness." It seemed to some a contradiction to use 
these words, and then keep millions of human beings 
in a state of perpetual slavery. 

6. Others declared that slavery was a wasteful system, 
and that the country would be richer and more prosper- 
ous without it Still others declared that slavery was 
wrong ; that no man had a right to hold another in 
bondage. On tlie other hand, those who defended 
slavery were sure that it would be impossible to cul- 
tivate the South without slave labor. They said it was 
natural for the whites to govern the blacks, and that 
there was nothing wrong in it. 

7. Meanwhile, the free States of the country were 
growing powerful, much faster than the slave States. 
The emigrants from Europe landed at Northern ports ; 
they staid in the Northern States. When they went 
West, they rarely crossed the line which separated the 
free States from the slave. The slaveholders were 
anxious to extend their system westward. They had 




Samuel Houston, 

Bom March 2, 1793 ; died July 25, 1863 
President of the Republic of Texas before its Annexaci^ 



194 THE WAR WITH MEXICO. 

a line of free States on their north. They did not want 
another line hemming them in on the west. 

8. So there was a struggle over Missouri. It was 
finally ended by an agreement called the Missouri 
Compromise. Slavery was to be permitted in Missouri, 
but was to be prohibited forever in all other territory, 
north of a line drawn westward from the southern 
boundary of Missouri. The Ohio River had been a 
natural boundary between the slave and free States, east 
of the Mississippi River ; a parallel of latitude was to 
be an artificial boundary, west of that river. 

9. Missouri was admitted to the Union, and at nearly 
the same time, part of Massachusetts was set off and 
made the State of Maine. The Missouri Compromise 
was made in the year 1820. For sixteen years, no other 
State was added to the Union, but the discussion over 
the question of slavery grew louder. There were men 
in the North, especially in New England, who demanded 
the instant abolition of slavery. They were called 
Abolitionists, and held meetings and printed papers 
and books to spread their ideas. 



CHAPTER LIV. 

THE WAR WITH MEXICO. 

1. When Florida was admitted into the Union in 
1845, all the territory in the South had been made into 
slave States. There were now fourteen slave States, 
and thirteen free States. But people were still flocking 
into the great country north of the southern boundary 
of Missouri, and it was plain that, before many years, a 



THE WAR WITH MEXICO. 195 

number of States would there be formed. When this 
was done, the free States would greatly outnumber the 
slave States. 

2. Those men, at the South, who were anxious to per- 
petuate slavery, saw clearly that people would not let 
slavery alone. They foresaw that, by and by, there would 
be a Union, in which the greater number of States would 
be opposed to slavery, and Congress would begin to 
make laws against the system. 

3. They looked about for means to increase the nuna* 
her of slave States, and they found it in the southv/est. 
Not long after the purchase of Florida from Spain by the 
United States, Mexico had thrown off the rule of Spain, 
and formed itself into a republic after the pattern of 
the United States. 

4. At that time Mexico included, besides the country 
which now bears the name, Texas, New Mexico, Cali- 
fornia, and other western regions. But the people, living 
in this great country, had not been trained in self- 
government, as the people of the English colonies had 
been when they revolted from England. It was not 
long before they fell to quarreling, and the province 
of Texas separated itself from Mexico, and set itself 
up as an independent State. 

5. In doing this, the inhabitants of Texas were greatly 
helped by people in the neighboring States of the Ameri- 
can Union. These men went into Texas, and were very 
ready to fight against Mexico, and to show the Texans 
how to organize a government. They were, in fact, 
always thinking what an excellent addition to the Union 
Texas would make. 

6. Through their advice, Texas now proposed to be 
annexed to the United States. This proposition stirred 



i96 THE WAR WITH MEXICO. 

the Union greatly. Mexico had not acknowledged the 
independence of Texas, and for the United States to 
admit this country into the Union would mean that 
w^ar must be made with Mexico. 

7. It was very plainly seen, too, what the admission 
of Texas meant. It meant more slave States, and the 
opposition to slavery was every day growing more 
powerful. But the South wanted Texas, and the South 
was more in earnest than the North. Besides, there 
were many, all over the country, who thought it a fine 
thing to have the United States grow bigger and bigger, 
until it should take in all North America. 

8. Congress voted to have Texas annexed, and war 
with Mexico immediately followed. It lasted about two 
years. Th? Mexicans fought bravely, but they were 
not united, and they could not stand against the army 
and navy of their powerful neighbor. General Taylor, 
who afterward was President of the United States, and 
General Scott, commanded the United States forces, 
which, after a series of battles, marched into the city 
of Mexico, the capital of the country. 

9. A treaty was made with the United States in 1848. 
The independence of Texas was agreed upon, and Mexico 
also sold a large portion of the rest of her territory to 
the United States. In accordance with this treaty, and 
another one made five years later, our nation came 
into possession of California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, 
and parts of Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, and New 
Mexico. 

10. There were few who thought the war a just one, 
and many foresaw that greater evils were to follow ; but 
the country was pleased that the boundaries of the 
nation were so greatly enlarged. 




William Henry Harrison. 

Lorn February 9, 1773; died April 4, 1841 
Ninth President of the United States. 



198 THE PACIFIC COAST. 



CHAPTER LV. 

THE PACIFIC COAST. L 



1. Shortly after the United States became a nation, 
a Boston sea-captain, Robert Gray, was sailing in the 
North Pacific Ocean. He was trading with the Indians 
for furs, and as he sailed along the coast, he discovered 
a great river emptying into a bay. There was a bar of 
sand across the mouth, against which the waves broke ; 
but Captain Gray, watching his chance, found an opening 
and carried his ship through. 

2. His ship was named '' Columbia," and he gave that 
name to the river, up which he sailed a few miles. He 
was the first white man to enter the river, and so the 
country watered by the river was claimed by the nation 
to which Captain Gray belonged. A few years later, 
President Jefferson, when he bought Louisiana for the 
United States, sent out an exploring expedition under 
two men, Lewis and Clarke. They crossed the Rocky 
Mountains, and explored the country watered b}^ the 
Columbia River. 

3. The English, also, sent an expedition from Canada, 
the year after Captain Gray found the Columbia. It 
entered the country and passed through to the Pacific ; 
so the English claimed the land. Spain, meanwhilej 
said that all the Pacific coast north of Mexico, as far 
as Russian America (now Alaska), belonged to her. But 
Spain made no settlements, and when she sold Florida 
to the United States, she gave up all rights on the 
Northern Pacific coast. 

4. The country lying north of California and west of 



THE PACIFIC COAST. 199 

the Rocky Mountains was called Oregon, and included 
the present States of Oregon, Washington, parts of 
Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, and British Columbia. 
For a long while it was supposed that it was almost 
impossible to cross the Rocky Mountains, and that 
those who wished to go to Oregon must either go 
through British America or sail around Cape Horn. 

5. John Jacob Astor, a fur-merchant in New York, 
sent ships to the Columbia River, and set up a trading- 
post there, which was named Astoria. The Hudson Bay 
Company, which had vast possessions in Canada, also 
established posts in the region for trading with the In- 
dians. Thus, both Americans and Englishmen settled 
in the country. 

6. After the War of 1812, there was a dispute between 
England and America as to which nation owned this 
great Territory, and just what its boundaries were. Each 
supposed that it was of use only to hunters, who found 
game there and obtained furs. It was agreed that they 
should own Oregon together for ten years. At the end 
of that time, they could not decide to which of the two 
it belonged, so they continued to hold it in common. 

7. At this time, St. Louis was the centre of the West- 
ern fur-trade. Hunters went from this place into the 
mountains, and pushed every year farther into Oregon. 
They brought back word that there were fine farming 
and grazing lands the other side of the mountains, and 
the emigrants, who had already reached the eastern slope, 
began to make their way across. 

8. There were, of course, no railways or telegraph' 
lines in that distant country, and word traveled slowly, 
but every year fresh companies of enterprising Ameri- 
cans followed the pioneers. The English, on the other 



200 THE PACIFIC COAST. 

hand, did little more than increase the number of hunt- 
ers and traders, and build up their trading posts. 

9. Missionaries to the Indians also came into the 
new country, and they sent home an account of tlie 
Avonderful land in whicli they found themselves. Thus 
there were at last so many more Americans than Eng- 
lish in the disputed country that England gave up her 
claim. Oregon became a part of the United States, 
only the northern boundary was not made so far north 
as the United States first wished. 

10. It is not always easy to survey a country so as 
to settle the bo,undary line without question. If a 
river forms the boundary, there is no special difficulty ; 
but if there are islands in the river, there may be a 
doubt as to Avhich country on either side of the river 
they belong to. 

11. A question of this nature arose as to the boundary 
between Washington, as the northern part of the old 
Oregon country came to be called, and British Colum- 
bia. In 1846, it was agreed that the boundary should 
be the forty-ninth parallel of latitude straight through 
from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. 

12. It was agreed further that when this boundary 
line struck the sea, it should folloAv the middle of the 
channel dividing Vancouver's Island from the mainland, 
and thence proceed through the middle of Fuca Strait 
to the Pacific. Now in this channel there were a num- 
ber of islands, and so a new dispute arose as to the 
exact passage the line should follow. It is pleasant 
to think that this dispute was finally settled by arbi- 
tration. The two nations left it to the German 
emperor, and he decided in 1872 in favor of the United 
States. 



THE PACIFIC COAST. 201 



CHAPTER LVI. 

THE PACIFIC COAST. II. 

1. This was just before the war with Mexico. The 
new country which the United States acquired after 
that war bordered on Oregon, and thus a great region 
west of the Rocky Mountains became a part of the 
Union. Emigrants were moving toward it across the 
plains, when, suddenly, a discovery of the greatest im- 
portance was made. 

2. In the year 1848, in which California became a 
possession of the United States, a pioneer named Sut- 
ter set about building a sawmill in the valley of the 
Sacramento River, near what is now the town of 
Coloma. He had a superintendent, one Marshall, who 
tried to improve the mill by bringing down water by 
additional canals. 

3. The water came rushing down through the mill- 
race, and Marshall, watching it, saw some gleaming 
particles that lodged along the sides of the race. He 
gathered them in his hand. They were bits of gold 
washed down from the ground above. 

4. At first Sutter would not believe in the dis- 
covery, but Marshall tested the particles and persuaded 
him. The workmen about the mill learned shortly 
what had happened. At first the few who were in the 
secret tried to keep it to themselves, but it w^as impos- 
sible. The news spread like wildfire. 

5. There were not many people living in California 



202 THE PACIFIC COAST. 

at tills time. San Francisco itself liad not more than 
eight hundred inhabitants. Sutter, who was a Swiss 
emigrant, had lived in his wilderness home for several 
years without suspecting the wealth that lay under his 
feet ; and there were other settlers scattered here and 
there in the river valley. But now all this was changed. 
The news spread not only about the neighborhood and 
to San Francisco, but all over the world ; and, in the 
eastern part of the United States especially, people 
were attacked by what was rightly called the " gold 
fever." 

6. Men of all occupations were excited by the hope of 
finding gold. The student left his books, the farmer 
sold his acres, the mechanic gave up his shop, the mer- 
chant closed his store, and men who had failed in every 
other pursuit thought they could, at any rate, make a 
fortune in California. 

7. There were three modes of reaching the new coun- 
try : by ship round Cape Horn ; by ship to Panama, 
thence across the isthmus, and again by ship ; and by 
the overland route. Whichever way one took, one had 
a hard time. The ships were crowded. Multitudes 
died of fever in crossing the isthmus, and the bones of 
hundreds strewed the plains between the Mississippi 
Valley and the Rocky Mountains. 

8. Yet new men took the place of those who fell by 
the way. In two years there were a hundred thousand 
inhabitants in the California valleys. A bustling city 
sprang up on the shores of San Francisco Bay, and 
captains who brought their ships into the bay found the 
harbor to be one of the finest in the world. 

9. At first, nearly every one went to the " diggings," as 
they were called, to dig for gold. But the miners had 



THE PACIFIC COAST, 



203 



to t)e fed and clothed and housed. Thus, many quickly 
found that they could make more money by selling goods 
to the miners than by digging for gold. Soon, too, it 
was discovered, that parts of the country were rich farm 
lands, and parts were well suited to grazing. 



'-^P^>.^"'^ 




City of San Francisco. 



10. So a great and prosperous State grew up on the 
shores of the Pacific. It was far away from the other 
States. Many of its ways were different from those of 
the older parts of the country ; but most of the people 
were Americans, who had grown up under the laws of 
the nation, and in 1850, two years after it had been 
bought by the country, California became one of the 
States of the Union. 



204 THE CONTEST ABOUT SLAVERY. 

CHAPTER LVII. 

THE CONTEST ABOUT SLAVERY, 

1. California did not come into the Union without a 
sharp discussion over the question of slavery. Not only 
were the Abolitionists more persistent than ever, but 
there was a growing sentiment in the country against 
the extension of slavery. 

2. Mobs assailed the Abolitionists, broke up their 
meetings, destroyed their printing-presses, and some- 
times killed men. This violence roused many who were 
not prepared to urge an immediate abolition of slavery. 
If slavery made such trouble in the country, they said, 
it would be better if slavery should come to an end. 

3. At any rate, it ought not to be suffered in any o/' 
the new States. Besides, slaves were constantly breaking 
away from the South, and escaping to the North and to 
Canada. Slavery could not be so desirable a condition, 
if men and women ran such risks to escape from it. 

4. The more slavery was attacked, the more stoutly it 
was defended by slaveholders, as well as by many in the 
North. The friends of slavery tried to stop discussion* 
and they did stop it in tlie South ; they tried to keep 
anti-slavery papers out of the mails in the South, and 
they tried to prevent petitions for the abolition of slavery 
from being received by Congress. 

5. But they might as well have tried to stop the wind 
from blowing. In the pulpit, in the newspapers, in pub- 
lic meetings, in State legislatures, in Congress, — every- 
where, the question of slavery was becoming the one 
great subject of discussion. 




John Tyler. 

Born March 29, 1790; died Januaiy 17, 1862 
Tenth President of the United States. 



206 THE CONTEST ABOUT SLAVERY. 

6. It divided people ; churches were split by it ; 
families quarreled ; societies were broken up, — all on 
account of this question. Books were written in de- 
fense of slavery. Other books, and pamphlets and news^- 
paper articles without number, were written against it. 
In the North, the poets were almost unanimous io hating 

, the system of slavery. 

7. The great argument brought forward by the de- 
fenders of slavery was this : This is a matter for each 
State to settle ; some Northern States have abolished 
slavery ; the Southern States liave not ; each State 
has the right to make its own laws, and no State can 
interfere with another ; neither can the general govern- 
ment interfere with any State. 

8. The Southern States had changed far less than the 
Northern, since the War for Independence. The people 
in them had always been in the habit of thinking of 
their State first, and of the country second. They would 
say, " I am a Virginian," "I am a Georgian," or " I am 
a South Carolinian," before they would think of saying, 
" I am a citizen of the United States." 

9. It was not so at the North. Great changes were 
constantly going on, which broke up the feeling that the 
State was everything. People moved more from one 
State to another. New citizens flocked in from other 
countries. Men thought more of belonging to a great 
country than of belonging to the State in which they 
lived. This was especially true in the new Western 
States, formed after the Union was founded. 

10. The leaders in the South saw very clearly that 
slavery would be safer, if the States in which slavery 
existed had entire control of it ; so they encouraged 
the spirit which made much of the State. They be- 



THE CONTEST ABOUT SLAVERY, 207 

lieved that the Union was no more than a company of 
sovereign States, that found it convenient to unite for 
special purposes, such as dealing with other nations, 
coining money, having a general post-office system, and 
the like. 

11. They went so far in this belief, that once, when 
Congress undertook to direct what should be done re- 
garding the Indians in Georgia, Georgia said Congress 
had no right so to direct, although the Indians were 
treated by the United States as a foreign nation, like 
England or Spain. Congress did not care much for 
the Indian, and, rather than make trouble, gave way to 
Georgia. 

12. Not long after. South Carolina was dissatisfied 
with the laws passed by Congress regulating trade, and 
the duties upon goods brought into the country. This 
State thought these laws injurious to its welfare, and 
declared that, rather than submit, it would leave the 
Union. 

13. This was a very serious matter. If any State 
could leave the Union whenever it thought itself 
wronged, it was clear that the Union might any day 
crumble to pieces. The President of the United States 
at this time (1832) was Andrew Jackson. He was de- 
' voted to the Union, and he said that South Carolina 
should not leave the Union ; if necessary, he Avould 
send the army there to prevent it. 

14. Congress made some changes in the laws, and 
South Carolina withdrew the threat. But all these 
things only made those persons who believed that a 
State had a right to leave the Union, more in earnest. 
At the same time those who were devoted to the Union 
were still more in earnest to preserve it. 



208 THE CONTEST ABOUT SLAVERY. 

15. Whenever this great question of slavery came up 
in Congress, there were members from the South who 
warned the nation that, if slavery were interfered with, 
the Union would come to an end ; and there were al- 
ways those who sought to smooth over the difficulties, 
for they could not bear the idea of the Union break- 
ing up. 

16. It is true that the Constitution of the United 
States did leave slavery to the States, and there were 
few at the North who expected to interfere with it in 
the South. But the Constitution said nothing about 
slavery in tlie Territories which might become States, 
und it was about these Territories that there were long 
debates in Congress. 

17. So bitter was the feeling when California was 
added to the Union, that some of the members of 
Congress tried to arrange matters to satisfy both sides. 
The South complained that, though the Constitution gave 
slaveholders the right to recover runaway slaves in other 
States, it was impossible to get them again when they 
escaped to the Northern States. 

18. Congress, therefore, passed a law called the Fugi- 
tive Slave Law. By this law. United States marshals 
were ordered to hunt for runaway slaves and to call 
upon citizens to help them. The people at the North 
were indignant over this. It was not often that any one 
could be found willing to help the marshals. Rather, 
tliey put obstacles in the way of search. 

19. On the other hand, to please the anti-slavery party. 
Congress abolished the buying and selling of slaves in 
the District of Columbia, where it had full power. It 
also admitted California, with a constitution forbidding 
slavery. But it agreed that, in other Territories, people 



THE CONTEST ABOUT SLAVERY. 209 

night decide for themselves wlietlier the States to be 
formed should be slave States or free. 

20. Now, the States formed out of the country lying 
west of Missouri ought, according to the Missouri Com- 
promise, to come in as free, because they were north of 
the southern boundary of Missouri. But those who fa- 
vored the Southern doctrines were determined, under 
this new plan, to give the Territories of Kansas and 
Nebraska a chance to become slave States. 

21. The anti-slavery people, who were sometimes called 
Free-soilers, were equally determined to make these Ter- 
ritories free States. Just as the English and Americans 
had raced to get possession of Oregon, so the people of 
the North and the South raced for the possession of 
Kansas and Nebraska. But the North had more men to 
spare, it was more used to colonizing, and it was more 
heartily in earnest. Companies were formed, and sent 
into the disputed territory, while from the South, espe- 
cially from Missouri, parties also crossed into Kansas, 
determined to secure control. 

22. It was not a peaceful contest ; on the contrary, 
there was great violence and fighting. For six years 
the struggle went on ; and though the free-State men 
greatly outnumbered the others, the slave-State men took 
the government into their hands, borrowing men from 
Missouri on election-day to swell the votes on their 
side. 

23. They were supported by Congress also, which was 
under the control of the slavery party. The free-State 
men said the Kansas government was not got by fair 
means, and they refused to accept it. They formed a 
government of their own, and at one time there were 
two territorial governments, one pro-slavery, the other 



210 SECESSION. 

anti-slavery, and each claiming to be the only legal 
one. 

24. Meanwhile, the contest over slavery went on in 
other ways all over the country. A new political party 
was formed, called the Republican party. It was com- 
posed of those who opposed the extension of slavery, 
and, in 1856, it tried to elect John C. Fremont President. 
It did not succeed ; but four years later it succeeded in 
electing Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, President of the 
United States. 



CHAPTER LYIII. 

'" SECESSION. 

1. Before the election of Lincoln, the people at the 
North heard repeated threats from the South, that, if 
the Republican party were successful, the slaveliolding 
States would leave the Union. They liad heard such 
threats before, and they refused to believe them. Yet 
the threats were sincere. 

2. The voters at the South had learned to look upon 
the North as thoroughly hostile to the South. They 
made little distinction between the Republican party 
and the Abolitionists, and they felt sure that a govern- 
ment elected in opposition to slavery would find many 
ways to injure it. 

3. For a great many years, the leaders at the South 
had really controlled the government at Washington. 
Now they saw the power about to pass out of their 
hands. There were many at the South who were will- 
ing to wait, and see what Mr. Lincoln would do. He 
had said that he should obey the Constitution strictly. 




James Knox Polk. 

Bom November 2, 1795; died June 15, 1849. 
Eleventh President of the United Statea. 



•212 SECESSION. 

But the leaders would not wait ; they determined to 
act at once. 

4. South Carolina was the first to act. The presi- 
dential election took place in November, 1860. As 
soon as it was known that Mr. Lincoln was elected, the 
senators at Washington from South Carolina, and those 
who held office in the State under the general govern- 
ment, resigned their places. Tiie legislature of the State 
called a convention, and before the end of December the 
State of South Carolina had declared that it was no 
longer one of the United States. 

5. Other States followed quickly, but some held back. 
The Southern States which bordered on the free States 
hesitated. There were, in them, many who did not be- 
lieve it was necessary to secede from the Union, and 
they knew, that, if war should follow, their own States 
would be the first to suffer. However, seven States 
agreed to leave the Union ; and in February, 1861, dele- 
gates from these States met at Montgomery, Alabama, 
and formed the Confederate States of America. 

6. Scattered about in these States were forts, arsenals, 
and other stations, occupied by officers of the United 
States, and belonging to the whole country. The States, 
which had seceded, declared that these places now be- 
longed to them, and called upon the officers to deliver 
up the property to the State authorities. 

7. Most of them did so ; but Major Robert Anderson, 
commander of the forts in the harbor of Charleston, 
South Carolina, refused to give up his command. He 
said that he held these forts by authority of the 
United States, and that he could not surrender them 
except by order of the President, unless he were forced 
to do so by war. He removed all his forces to Fort 



SECESSION. 



213 



Sumter, the strongest of the forts, and there awaited 
the result. 

8. The Confederate States said that no United States 
officer had any longer any authority within their borders ; 
they were no more a part of the Union than Mexico was, 
or Canada ; it was only necessary to make some arrange- 
ment with the old Union, by which the property of the 
United States within the seceding States should be di- 
vided, and each receive its share. 

9. All this followed 
naturally from the belief 
that the States of the 
Union were independent 
governments, only held 
together by common 
agreement. But the peo- 
ple of the Northern States 
were not ready to grant 
this. They said: The 
States are all parts of one 
country ; each State owes 
a duty to the Union, and 
no State can withdraw ; 
at any rate, it can with- 
draw only when all con- 
sent. 

10. Still, the people 
were very anxious to avoid a rupture. They said -. 
Wait and see; the Republican party has been suc- 
cessful, but the President will be the President of the 
whole country ; he will not interfere with the rights of 
the States. They were even ready to make promises 
to this effect, if the seceding States would return. 




^14 THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 

11. So the winter went by, and everybody was in the 
greatest anxiety. One after another, senators and rep- 
resentatives from the seceding States left Washington. 
It was clear that the Southerners were very much in 
earnest. Seven States only, hov/ever, had seceded when 
Mr. Lincoln took the oath of office, March 4, 1861, and 
became President of the United States. 



CHAPTER LIX. 

THE WAR FOR THE UNION. I. 

1. President Lincoln determined to maintain Major 
Anderson at Fort Sumter. He was bound to do so, as 
President, and he sent a steamer with stores to the fort. 
The South Carolinians had erected batteries in the har- 
bor, and they would not let the steamer come near the 
fort. The United States had not yet fired a shot. The 
government waited patiently. 

2. It had not long to wait. On Friday, April 12, 1861, 
the batteries in Charleston Harbor opened fire on Fort 
Sumter. The Confederacy attacked the United States. 
The fort replied, and for several hours the firing was 
kept up, until the fort was so ruined that the men could 
no longer defend it. Major Anderson surrendered. 

3. War had begun. There could no longer be any 
hesitation. President Lincoln issued a proclamation, 
calling for an army of seventy-five thousand volunteers, 
and summoning Congress to an extra session. If any 
one had a doubt, before, whether the people really cared 
for the Union, they had it no longer. Patiently as the 
people of the North had tried to avert war, when war 
came, they rose as one man to defend the Union. 



THE WAR FOR THE imiON. 216 

4. The telegraph bore the news over the land. In 
every town and city, and almost in every village, meet- 
ings were held, and men rushed forward eagerly, ready 
to go to Washington ; for all felt that the contest would 
be near the capital. The next day, troops were on their 
way. 

5. The States of the South which had wavered were 
compelled to make their choice. Virginia, Arkansas, 
Tennessee, and North Carolina joined the Confederacy. 
There was a strong anti-Union element in Delaware, 
Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri ; but though many 
men went from these States into the Confederate army, 
the States did not' break away from the Union. 

6. As soon as Virginia joined the Confederacy, Rich- 
mond was made the capital of the new government. 
The army which gathered at Washington was eager to 
march against Richmond, and many people fancied that 
it was only necessary for the army to set out at once, 
when Richmond would be taken, and the war come to 
an end. 

7. They urged the government to send the army for- 
ward ; and so great was the pressure brought to bear, that 
the government yielded, and the army started. It was 
defeated disastrously at the battle of Bull Run, July 21, 
1861 ; and then the Northern people began to see that 
the war was to be no child's play, and that more than a 
few months would be needed, to bring it to a close. 

8. The war lasted four years. The people of the 
United States took up arms to defend the Union. Their 
cry was, " The Union as it was, and the Constitution as 
it is." At first, they were so determined to fight for 
nothing else, that they even refused to receive negro 
slaves who fled into their camps. Soon they found 



216 THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 

that they could not fight for the Uuioii without hurting 
slavery. 

9. But it was not until January 1, 1863, that the 
country solemnly decreed the end of the system which 
had been at the bottom of all the trouble. On that day, 
President Lincoln issued a proclamation, freeing the 
slaves held by those who were in rebellion, and when 
the Confederacy was finally broken down, negro slavery 
perished with it ; in 1865, an amendment to the Consti- 
tution was passed, forever abolishing slavery. 



CHAPTER LX. ' 

THE WAR FOR THE UNION. H. 

1. The people of the Southern States were, in one 
respect, more ready for the war than the people of the 
North were. The leaders had prepared for the war 
before it came on. They were in earnest, while the 
Northern people had been slow to believe that there 
would be a war. 

2. The Secretary of War, who was in office when Lin- 
coln was elected, and who was a Southerner, had taken 
care to make such distribution of the army and of war 
material, that, when the States seceded, they found them- 
selves pretty well provided with arms and ammunition, 
and able for the most part to occupy the Southern forts 
and arsenals. 

3. Besides this, the young men of the South had 
always led a more soldierly life than the young men 
of the North. They used arms more, they were better 
horsemen, and their outdoor life made military service 
more natural to them. , 




Zachary Taylor. 

Born November 24, 1784; died July 9, 1850. 

Twelfth President of the United States. 



218 THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 

4. They were also defending their homes. The war 
was carried on in the Southern States, and the North- 
ern armies were in the enemy's country ; the Southern 
armies were in their own country, and knew all the 
roads and streams. Only a few times were they able 
to make dashes into Pennsylvania and other Northern 
States. 

5. But the South had one enormous disadvantage. It 
had never been a manufacturing country, and scarcely a 
grain-growing or cattle-feeding country. It had always 
depended on its cotton, and tobacco, and sugar or rice 
crop. So long as it could sell these articles to the North, 
or to Europe, it had money with which to buy manu- 
factured goods. It could now no longer sell to the 
North, and every year it became more difficult to sell 
to Europe. 

6. For, one of the most important means taken by the 
United States to overcome the States that had seceded 
was to shut them up. The navy of the United States 
was greatly increased, and its ships were sent to the 
entrance of every Southern port, to keep vessels from 
going in or coming out. 

7. This blockade of Southern ports was not perfect. 
Many ships stole in and out, carrying cotton to the West 
Indies, to be shipped to Europe, and bringing back 
arms, and ammunition, and some manufactured articles. 
Southern war-vessels were also built in foreign ports, 
and made great havoc among the vessels belonging to 
Northern merchants. 

8. Still, the blockade was tight enough to make the 
Southern people poorer and poorer. It forced them into 
all manner of devices. They dragged out old, disused 
spinning-wheels ; they tried to get salt from the ocean ; 



THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 219 

leather gave out, and they fashioned wooden shoes ; 
they saved all the scraps of iron they could find ; tea 
and coffee disappeared, and they sought substitutes in 
herbs and roots. 

9. The few newspapers which were able to keep alive, 
were printed on any kind of paper that could be found, 
sometimes on the back of wall-paper. Ink was made 
out of poke-berries, sumac-berries, and oak-balls. In 
writing letters, families often were obliged to use the 
blank side of paper from books and from account- 
books. 

10. The paper-money used was very dingy, and as it 
was a promise to pay in gold and silver when the Con- 
federacy should succeed, it rapidly became good for 
nothing, as the war continued, and the Confederacy be- 
came weaker. In 1864, a young officer took two friends 
to dine with him in a Richmond restaurant. He had 
four hundred dollars in Confederate bills with which 
to pay for the dinner. The dinner was a meagre one ; 
but, after paying his money for it, he still owed eight 
hundred dollars. 

11. In spite of their disadvantages, the Southern peo- 
ple fought stubbornly to the end. They were led, often, 
by brave and skillful officers. Their chief general was 
Robert E. Lee, of Virginia, the descendant of one of 
Washington's friends ; but the officer who created espe- 
cial enthusiasm was a single-minded, religious, deter- 
mined, and successful soldier, Thomas J. Jackson, who 
was popularly called " Stonewall " Jackson, because, 
early in the war, he said his troops would stand like a 
stone wall to meet the enemy's attack. The President 
of the Confederacy was Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi. 



220 THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 



CHAPTER LXI. 

THE WAR FOR THE UNION. III. 

1. The people of the South, with a few notable excep- 
tions, were firm in their determination to secede from 
the Union. Most of those who voted against secession 
yielded to the majority, when their State joined the Con- 
federacy, though a few, known as Union men, still stood 
out, and either escaped to the North, or suffered in their 
homes. 

2. The .great stronghold of Union sentiment in the 
South was in the mountains of East Tennessee. Here, 
slavery had very little hold, and the people were 
strongly opposed to secession. They drove out those 
who advocated secession, but they were so hemmed in 
by secessionists that they suffered severely during the 
war. 

3. At the North, on the other hand, while the vast 
majority of the people were earnest Unionists, there 
were not a few who sympathized with the South, and 
thought the Southern people were justified in resisting 
the government. Such were bitterly called Copperheads 
at the North, from the name of a venomous snake^ 
Sometimes they were arrested ; a few made their way 
to the South, but most of them obstructed the govern- 
ment as openly as they dared. At every election there 
was a strong party opposed to the government. 

4. Although the North was not, at the beginning of 
the war, so ready to fight as the South, it had very great 
advantages. Its ports were open, and it could carry 
on trade with the rest of the world. It was far richer 




Millard Fillmore. 

Bom January 7, 1800 ; died March 8, 1874. 
Thirteenth President of the United States. 



222 THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 

than the South, and its manufactories were busily 
employed. 

5. Moreover, thousands of emigrants from Europe 
were constantly landing at New York and other ports. 
The enthusiasm for the Union sent multitudes of the 
noblest young men, from farms and workshops and 
colleges, into the army. As the war continued, still 
greater armies were sent to the South, and the ranks 
were kept full by means of the constant increase in 
population. 

6. It was a very expensive matter to keep a great 
navy afloat, blockading Southern ports, and a huge 
army to enter the South from a great variety of points. 
But money and men were also given freely to build 
and equip hospitals, and to care for the welfare of 
the soldiers. Two great Commissions, the Sanitary 
and the Christian, organized this help and relief of 
the soldier and sailor. 

7. The general who gained the greatest fame in the 
Union armies was Ulysses S. Grant, who won his first 
victories in the West, and then was made general in 
command of all the armies, and finally, after a series 
of hard-fought battles before Richmond, brought the 
war to a close. On the 9th of April, 1865, General Lee 
surrendered to General Grant, at Appomattox Court 
House, Virginia. 

8. General Grant was twice President of the United 
States after the war was over ; but the man who was 
President during the war has come to be regarded as 
the greatest American since Washington. 

9. Abraham Lincoln was a plain man, born in pov- 
erty, and rising to his place as a lawyer through his 
own hard exertions. He had won respect as a sturdy 



THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 22.1 

debater, before he was elected President, but few sus 
pected how able a man he was. He was ungainly, anc 
very different from some of the courtly men about him 
but he was a great leader. 

10. He always kept close to the people, yet just in ad- 
vance. He appeared to many to be slow, but he never 
lost sight of the great end which the war was to accom- 
plish. He longed for peace, and he felt the terrible 
burden of the war ; but he knew also that thousands of 
lives had been sacrificed for the Union, and he held the 
Union sacred. 

11. He was chosen President a second time, and on 
the 4th of March, 1865, gave his inaugural address. 
The war was still waging, but the end seemed not far 
off. He closed his address with these solemn words: 
" With malice towards none ; with charity for all ; with 
firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, 
let us strive on to finish the work we are in ; to bind up 
the nation's wounds ; to care for him who shall have 
borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan, — 
to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and a 
lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations." 

12. His own life was a sacrifice. Five days after the 
surrender of General Lee, when the land was full of 
rejoicing, Abraham Lincoln was killed at Washington, 
by an assassin, and the nation's joy was turned into 
mourning. 



224 APTER THE WAR. 



CHAPTER LXII. 

AFTER THE WAR. 



1. A GREAT war, like that for the Union, leaves great 
evils behind it. There was rejoicing that it was over. 
In the years that followed, monuments to the heroes of 
the war were built in cities, towns, and villages. The 
graves of the dead soldiers were decorated. A day was 
set apart for this purpose, the 30th of May, and the 
lessons of the war have been repeated by orators. 

2. Congress provided, from time to time, for the sup- 
port of those who were maimed in the war, and for 
the families of those who died. It built hospitals and 
soldier's homes, and gave the preference to Union 
soldiers in appointments to office. 

3. But multitudes of families, in the North and in the 
South, remembered with grief those w^ho had died on the 
battlefield, or in the hospital, or at home. Homes had 
been broken up, houses destroyed, especially in the South, 
and many who once were prosperous now were poor. 

4. The greatest change of all was in life at the Soutli. 
The old way of living was gone forever. There were 
no longer any slaves working for white masters. The 
blacks could work for themselves. Many of the Southern 
leaders left the country, for a while, and took service in 
foreign armies, or tried to make new homes in Brazil, 
in Mexico, and in other countries. 

5. The political power of the South was broken. It 
no longer controlled the government, as in the days 
before the war. The States remained with the same 
names as before (except that Virginia had been divided 



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AFTER THE WAR. 225 

into Virginia and West Virginia), but they had said 
they were out of the Union. The Confederacy had 
disappeared, but were these States back in the Union ? 

6. This was a question which puzzled people. They 
said it would never do to let States leave the Union at 
their own pleasure, and then, after a four years' war, 
come back on an equality with the States which had 
remained loyal. So Congress made various conditions 
upon which the States were to be allowed to return. 
Each State, for example, was required to pass laws pro- 
tecting the blacks. 

7. Meanwhile, soldiers were stationed in the South 
to see that the will of Congress was carried out. Gov- 
ernors of the States were appointed from Washington, 
as if the States were Territories, and not yet States 
again. The blacks were encouraged to vote. White 
men from the North established themselves in the 
South, and undertook to get control of affairs. 

8. This went on until, one by one, the States which 
had joined the Confederacy came back into the Union. 
At first, the power was in the hands of those who acted 
under advice from Washington. The most influential 
men in the South, those who foi-merly were the leaders, 
took little part in affairs. Many refused to act, be- 
cause they did not believe they were free to act as they 
thought best. 

9. Thus it came about that the very evil which the 
South had feared, now did happen as one result of the 
war. The States were not indejDendent, as they had 
been ; the general government did interfere with the 
States. But this could not go on forever. Matters be- 
came so unbearable that the leading men at the South 
began again to combine, to recover their old power. 



226 THE UNION ONCE MORE. 

10. The blacks, too, who had never been trained to 
government, were not sorry, for the most part, to give up 
trying to rule. They were glad to be free, but they were 
attached to their old masters, and often remained as 
hired servants where they had been slaves. 

11. People in other parts of the country also were 
unwilling to see the Union so changed that any State 
should be governed from Washington. If the States of 
the North could manage their own affairs, the States of 
the South should, also. They were determined, indeed, 
to protect the blacks. They said that the country had 
freed them, and now must see that they were made able 
to take care of themselves. They sought to educate 
them so that they might know how to vote, and how to 
earn their own living, and a great many schools were 
established for them. 



CHAPTER LXIII. 

THE UNION ONCE MORE. 

1. Little by little, as the years went by, the coun- 
try came back to its old ways. The soldiers were with- 
drawn from the South, and each State, as before, was 
left free to manage its own affairs. People noticed 
gladly that this came about just as the country finished 
the first century of its life as a nation. 

2. Before 1876 there had been many celebrations of 
historical events. The fight at Lexington and Concord, 
the battle of Bunker Hill, and other memorable events, 
were celebrated one hundred years after they occurred, 
by speeches and processions and holidays. After 1876, 
also, there were similar celebrations down to 1889, when 




Franklin Pierce. 

Born November 23, 1804 ; died October 8, 1869. 

Fourteenth President of the United States. 



228 THE UNION ONCE MORE. 

the centennial or hundredth anniversary of the inaugu- 
ration of George Washington, as first President of the 
United States, was remembered. 

3. But every one agreed that the great year to have 
a celebration was 1876. Just one hundred years before, 
the country had declared itself independent of Great 
Britain. So a great international exhibition was held 
in that year, in Philadelphia, for it was in that city that 
the country's independence had been declared. 

4. What made people most thankful was that the 
country was at peace with itself. It was more than 
ten years since the War for the Union had ended. All 
the States were regularly carrying on their governments, 
and no one talked of dissolving the Union. 

5. Indeed at this very time there happened something 
which showed how determined the people were to pre- 
serve the United States. An election for President was 
held, but when the votes were counted, it was very un- 
certain which of two candidates, R. B. Hayes and S. J. 
Tilden, had been elected. 

6. The President is chosen in November, but he 
does not take his place until the following March. All 
through the winter there was the greatest uncertainty 
who had been elected. Each political party was eager 
to see its choice declared President, and men grew 
exceedingly angry over the dispute. 

7. But the people were determined to settle the matter 
without a war. The great doubt was over the vote of 
two States, Louisiana and Florida. There had been such 
keen political management to secure these States, that 
each party accused the other of fraud. Tlie people in- 
sisted that some peaceable way of deciding the question 
should be found. 



THE UNION ONCE MORE. 229 

8. At last it was agreed by Congress to refer the 
dispute to fifteen men, who should constitute a court 
to decide questions about the election. Five were sena- 
tors, five were representatives, and five were judges 
of the Supreme Court. So evenly was this court divided, 
that, on almost all critical points, eight voted one way 
and seven the other. 

9. By the decisions of this court, the votes were so 
counted that Mr. Hayes was declared President. The 
friends of Mr. Tilden felt that he had been wronged, 
but they submitted. The government went forward, 
and the country settled down to its usual work. This 
quiet determination showed plainly that the people be- 
lieved the Union too precious to be brought into peril 
by an election. 

10. Eight years later, in 1884, at the presidential 
election, the Republican party, which had been in power 
ever since the election of Lincoln, was defeated, and the 
Democratic party chose its candidate, Grover Cleveland. 
Thus the party which was in power, when the Southern 
States left the Union, came back into power. Some of 
the men who had fought against the Union were in Con- 
gress or in the President's Cabinet, but the country was 
not disturbed. It knew that the United States was now 
one nation, that no State would again attempt to leave 
the Union, and that its people were all free, with power 
to choose their own rulers and make their own laws. 

11. The great prosperity of the country and its advance 
in art and science were clearly shown by the World's 
Columbian Exposition held in Chicago in 1893. 



230 THE STATES OF THE UNION. 



CHAPTER LXIV. 

THE STATES OF THE UNION. I. 

1. Every nation has a flag. When a person is on the 
ocean and sees a vessel in the distance, he knows to what 
nation its owners belong, by the flag which the vessel 
carries at its mast-head. The United States has a flag 
which tells an interesting story. It is the flag of the 
whole nation, but it reminds one that, when the nation 
came into being, it consisted of thirteen States, and that 
now the thirteen have become forty-five. There are 
thirteen stripes for .the original thirteen States, and 
forty-five stars for the present number of States. When- 
ever a new State is added to the Union, a new star is 
added to the flao;. 

2. Each of these States has its own history, well 
worth telling, and reaching back beyond tlie time when 
it became a State. We have seen how there were Eng- 
lish colonies before there were States, and how the 
country, now occupied by our great central and western 
States, was early sprinkled over with Spanish and 
French settlements and forts. It will be like taking a 
bird's-eye view of the whole nation to glance a moment 
at each of these States, and a convenient order will be 
that of their entering the Union. 

3. The thirteen States, which took part in the Con- 
stitutional Convention of 1787, severally ratified the 
Constitution in 1787-1790, and so formed the Union. 
Delaware was the first to act. Its noble river and bay 
early attracted the attention of voyagers. The Dutch 
and the Swedes were the first to plant settlements, but 




James Buchanan. 

Born April 23, 1T91 ; died June 1, 1868. 
Fifteenth President of ttie United States 



232 THE STATES OF THE UNION. 

the English obtained final control. For nearly a hundred 
years, Delaware had the same governor as Pennsylvania, 
but after it became a State, it had its own governor. 

4. Pennsylvania has had so much to do with the 
history of the nation, that it has frequently been named 
in our story. It was one of the States which, originally, 
was like a great landed estate belonging to one family. 
As it grew in population and power, the people through 
their assembly were constantly brought into opposition 
to the Penn family. They were ripe for independence, 
when the colonies broke away from Great Britain, and 
it was in Philadelphia, the chief city of the State, that 
the first Congresses of the nation met, and it was there 
that the Declaration of Independence was made. It 
was on the soil of Pennsylvania also that, in the war 
for the Union, the decisive battle of Gettysburg was 
fought, July 1, 2, and 3, 1863. 

5. New Jersey was at first occupied by the Dutch, but 
when the English became supreme in New York, they 
began to settle New Jersey also, and from 1702 till 1738, 
the two colonies were under one government. After 
that. New Jersey was under a separate government. 
During the War for Independence, the State was 
crossed again and again by the forces on both sides, 
and one of the notable battles of that war was fought 
at Princeton, where was then a college which is now 
one of the great universities of the country. 

6. Georgia was the latest founded of the original 
thirteen colonies, but it is honorable as having been 
founded chiefly as a refuge for the poor and oppressed. 
In its early years, from its position on the extreme 
southern border, it had to struggle with its Spanish 
neighbors. Later, when a member of the Union, it 



THE STATES OF THE UNION. 233 

came into conflict with the Creek and Cherokee Indians, 
and finally drove them out, though, in doing so, it was 
charged with using an authority which belonged only to 
the whole Union. It was one of the first States to 
adopt the ordinance of secession in 1861, but it was 
not the scene of military operations, except on the 
coast, until the taking of Atlanta, September 2, 1864, 
and the march afterward of Sherman through the State 
to the sea-coast. It was readmitted into the Union 
in June, 1868. 

7. Connecticut took its name from its principal river, 
but the State originally consisted of two colonies, that 
of Connecticut with its capital at Hartford, and the 
colony of New Haven. The colony of Connecticut was 
the first in the country to have a written constitution. 
The governor of the State during the War for Inde- 
pendence was Jonathan Trumbull. His counsel was 
highly valued, so that it was often asked, " What does 
Brother Jonathan say to this ? " In that way " Brother 
Jonathan " came to be a term used for the people of 
the United States, as John Bull is used for those of 
England. Yale University was established in New 
Haven in 1700. 

8. Massachusetts, as the scene of the landing of the 
Pilgrims, and of the opening chapters of the War 
for Independence, has played a leading part in our his- 
torv. It took its name from a tribe of Indians livins 
within its borders. The character of its early settlers, 
many of whom were educated Englishmen, led to a 
prompt provision for education, and the founding of 
Harvard University dates almost from the beginning 
of the history of the Commonwealth. 



234 THB STATES OF THE UNION. 

CHAPTER LXV. 

THE STATES OF THE UNION. II. 

1. Maryland, like Pennsylvania, was at first a great 
estate under the direction of one family, the Calverts, 
who bore the title of Baltimore. The Calverts were 
Roman Catholics, and when they settled the country, 
they sought to make it a refuge for men and women 
of their faith who were ill-treated in England. They 
did not seek to make it, however, exclusively a Roman 
Catholic colony, and by wise laws they invited men 
of all faiths to settle in Maryland. There were long 
disputes about the boundaries of Maryland ; the north- 
ern one, fixed in 1760, has always since been known 
by the names of the surveyors. Mason and Dixon's 
line. The State suffered severely in the War of 1812, 
and it was in connection with the defense of Fort 
McHenry, at Baltimore, that the national song of the 
" Star-Spangled Banner " was written. During the 
War for the Union, the people of Maryland were di- 
vided in sentiment, but the State remained in the 
Union. 

2, South Carolina, as its name indicates, was the 
southern portion of an English province named after 
King Charles II. Later, the State entered heartily into 
the War for Independence, and important battles were 
fought on its soil. The State was greatly influenced 
by one of its citizens, John C. Calhoun, who was earn- 
est in maintaining the doctrine that the Union was a 
confederacy of States, each a sovereign power. Thus, 
in 1832, when South Carolina felt herself wronged by 




William Tecumseh Sherman, General. 

Born February 8, 1820 ; died February 14, 1891. 



236 THE STATES OF THE UlflON. 

the tariff laws of the nation, she passed an ordinance 
declaring that those laws had no force in the State. 
The difficulty was removed, partly by the firmness of 
President Jackson, partly by concessions made by Con- 
gress. The spirit of independent sovereignty remained, 
and when*, in 1860, it was evident that Abraham Lincoln 
was to be the next President, South Carolina took the 
lead in passing an ordinance of secession from the Union. 
Fort Sumter, in Charleston Harbor, was the scene of the 
first open attack on the Union. The State suffered se- 
verely in the war that followed, especially in the close 
blockade of its ports. It was restored to the Union in 
June, 1868. 

3, Three years after the landing of the Pilgrims, two 
feeble settlements were made in the district which is 
now occupied by the State of New Hampshire. For a 
hundred years the colony was more or less united to 
Massachusetts, but in 1741 it became an independent 
province. It took an active part in the French and 
Indian wars, for its position made it greatly exposed. 
When the War for Independence came, it was ready to 
send many trained soldiers into the field. Dartmouth 
College is in New Hampshire. 

4. Virginia was a name at first applied indefinitely to 
a large part of the Atlantic coast. It was the scene of 
an unfortunate early attempt at settlement, but within 
the borders of the present State, the first permanent 
English colony in North America was founded. The 
first representative assembly in America met at James- 
town in 1619. The State was a planting State, its chief 
product being tobacco, and large estates were held by 
influential families. When the struggle for indepen- 
dence came, Virginia furnished a large p umber of 



THE STATES OF THE UNION. 937 

notable men ; Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Patrick 
Henry, and Monroe were Virginians. So important 
was the State, that, of the Presidents of the United 
States, seven have been natives of the State. When 
the War for the Union broke out, the Southern Con- 
federacy was extremely anxious to secure the aid of 
Virginia. There was strong opposition in the State, 
but it finally adopted the oi'dinance of secession. Rich- 
mond was made the capital of the Confederacy, and 
the severest struggles were on the soil of the State, 
from the battle of Bull Run to the final surrender of 
General Lee at Appomattox Court House. Virginia 
was restored to the Union in 1870. 

5. New York, under the Dutch, was principally a field 
for trading with Indians for fur, although the foundation 
was laid for a great agricultural State. Under the Eng- 
lish, its great port was beginning to be the centre of 
trade, when the War for Independence came. The port 
was held by the English throughout the wai-, but when 
the United States became an independent nation, the 
city of New York rapidly grew in importance. It was 
the depot for the commerce that came down the Hudson 
River. Meanwhile, New England people were taking 
possession of the rich lands in the Mohawk valley, and 
the great watercourses of the State, aided by the Erie 
Canal, were the arteries through which the blood of the 
vigorous young nation began to course. The position 
of the State and the importance of its chief city have 
given it the name of the Empire State. 

6. North Carolina received its first definite settlement 
from Virginia. It also was much indebted to Scotland, 
and the North if Ireland, for an important element in 
its population. There was a sturdy spirit of indepen- 



238 THE STATES OF THE UNION. 

dence in the colony which showed itself in the Mecklen- 
burg resolutions in 1775, — resolutions that anticipated 
the Declaration of Independence. A small majority 
carried the State into the Confederacy. It was restored 
to the Union in 1868. 

7. Rhode Island was the last of the original thirteen 
States to ratify the Constitution. It had always been 
an independent, self-reliant little community. During 
the War for Independence its people were very active 
in privateering. Brown University is a seat of learning 
at Providence. 



CHAPTER LXYI. 

THE STATES OF THE UNION. III. 

1. Vermont was the first State to be added, after the 
original thirteen States. Its territory had been claimed 
in part by New York and in part by New Hampshire, 
but its inhabitants, popularly called the Green Mountain 
Boys, conducted their affairs as if the country between 
the Connecticut and Lake Champlain were an indepen- 
dent State. In 1777 they so declared themselves, and 
proceeded to elect a governor and other officers. By 
adroit management, the leaders, while helping tlie pa- 
triots, kept the English in doubt whether Vermont would 
side with the crown or with the American people. In 
1791 the boundaries of the State were settled and it 
was admitted to the Union. 

2. Kentucky is the daughter of Virginia. The early 
settlers were largely from that State, though Daniel 
Boone, the most noted pioneer, was from North Carolina. 
In 1776 the region covered by the present State was 




Abraham Lincoln* 

Bom February 12, 1809; died April 15, 1865 
Sixteenth President of the United States. 



240 THE STATES OF THE UNION. 

made a county of Virginia. The early settlers had 
many fierce conflicts with the Indians, so that Kentucky 
well deserved its name, which in the Indian tongue sig- 
nifies " the dark and bloody ground." After the War 
for Independence the number of families moving into 
Kentucky greatly increased. They were so far away 
from the settled parts of Virginia that the people, in 
1784, tried to establish an independent government. 
But, in 1790, Kentucky was made a Territory, and, in 
1792, it was admitted into the Union as a State. In 
the War for the Union, the State attempted to be neu- 
tral, and its inhabitants were divided in sentiment, but 
the State remained in the Union. 

3. As Kentucky was nominally a part of Virginia, so 
Tennessee was a part of North Carolina, and, in 1771, 
was made a count}^ of that State. In the confused time 
after the War for Independence, before the present Union 
was formed under the Constitution, Tennessee, like Ken- 
tucky, tried to establish itself as a State. But, under 
the Union, Tennessee was formed as the Southwest Ter- 
ritory, and in 1796 was admitted to the Union. The 
State adopted the ordinance of secession in 1861, but 
the people in thfe moun^/ains of East Tennessee remained 
loyal to the Union. The war for the Union raged 
fiercely in Tennessee, and there the great battles of 
Shiloh, or Pittsburgh Landing, Chattanooga, Island Num- 
ber Ten, and Stone River were fought. For a while 
there were two State governments, one under the Union 
and the other under the Confederacy, but in 1866 the 
State was wholly restored to the Union. 

4. In 1783, the several States, which claimed the ter- 
ritory lying to the northwest of the Ohio River, gave 
up the land to the United States, and it was formed 



THE STATES OF THE UNION. 241 

into the Northwest Territory. In 1787, an ordinance 
was passed for the government of the Territory, and it 
was declared, that, when one of the divisions of the 
Territory had not less than sixty thousand inhabitants, 
it could apply for admission as a State. 

5« Ohio was the first to apply. A company of 'Eastern 
emigrants entered the country in 1787-88 and settled 
Marietta. A period of conflict with the Indians followed, 
but in 1795 a treaty of peace was made, and, after that, 
there was a great increase of immigrants, so that in 
1803 Ohio was admitted into the Union. During the 
War of 1812, Ohio was the scene of important engage- 
ments on Lake Erie. 

6. The State of Louisiana was admitted into the 
Union in 1812, but the name was at first given to a vast 
unexplored country, from the AUeghanies to the Rocky 
Mountains, which was entered upon by French explorers, 
and taken possession of in the name of Louis XI Y., 
king of France. This great country was divided, after 
the French were defeated by the English in 1763, the 
eastern part going to Great Britain, the western to 
Spain. In 1800 Spain gave back her portion to France, 
and in 1803 the United States bought it of France for 
fiJteen million dollars. It was at New Orleans, in Louisi- 
ana, that the last battle of the War of 1812 was fought, 
when the Americans, under Andrew Jackson, defeated the 
English, January 8, 1815. The State adopted an ordi- 
nance of secession in 1861, but New Orleans was taken 
possession of by Union forces in April, 1862. The State 
was readmitted into the Union in 1868. 

7. In 1800 the Northwest Territory was divided, and 
the western portion was made into Indiana Territory. 
It was the scene of severe Indian wars, but after the 



242 THE STATES OF THE UNION. 

battle of Tippecanoe in 1811, there was greater security. 
Out of a part of Indiana Territory, a new State was 
formed, called Indiana, which was admitted to the 
Union in 1816. 

8, The Territory of Mississippi, formed in 1800, com- 
prised what are now the two States of Mississippi and 
Alabama. Before 1800 the country was a part of 
Georgia. In 1817 the Territory was divided, and the 
Mississippi portion admitted as a State. Mississippi was 
one of the earliest to adopt an ordinance of secession, and 
the president of the Confederacy was a citizen of the 
State. It was restored to the Union in 1870. Its name, 
taken from the great river, signifies Father of Waters. 

9, Illinois is so called from a tribe of Indians, whose 
name was written in this form by the French discoverers. 
The country was early visited by the French, and occu- 
pied by them with forts. In 1763 it became part of the 
British possessions, and in 1784 it was included in the 
Northwest Territory. In 1800 it was a part of Indiana 
Territory, but in 1809 it became the Illinois Territory, 
and in 1818 was admitted as a State. In 1831 Chicago, 
its chief city, now one of the largest in the Union, had 
only twelve families besides a small garrison. It suf- 
fered from a great fire in 1871, but was so abounding 
in vigor, that, in a few years scarcely a sign of the fire 
remained. 

10, Alabama was Alabama Territory when Missis- 
sippi came into the Union, and two years later, in 1819, 
became itself a State. It passed an ordinance of seces- 
sion in 1861, and the first capital of the Confederacy 
was at Montgomery. It was received back into the 
Union in 1868. 




Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Poet. 
Bom February 27, 1807 i died March 24, i88» 



244 THE STATES OF THE UNION. 

CHAPTER LXVII. 

THE STATES OF THE UNION. IV. 

1. It was after the admission of Alabama, that the 
question of slavery began to affect powerfully the forma- 
tion of new States. A long struggle arose over the 
admission of Missouri, and, while it was going on, the 
South was opposed to the admission of Maine, which 
had long been known as the District of Maine under 
the government of Massachusetts. Maine was admitted 
to the Union March 3, 1820. 

2. Missouri was admitted the next year. It was a 
portion of the Louisiana purchase, and became a part 
of the District of Louisiana in 1803. In 1812 it was 
formed into a Territory, and five years later applied for 
admission as a State. For four years the question was 
debated in Congress and in the country, between those 
who opposed and those who favored the extension of 
slavery. Missouri was admitted as a slave State. In 
the War for the Union, its people were divided in senti- 
ment, but the State remained in the Union. 

3. Arkansas, also, was a portion of the Louisiana 
Territory. When the State of Louisiana was formed, 
Arkansas became a portion of the new Missouri Terri- 
tory, but it was admitted as a State in 1836. It adopted 
the ordinance of secession in 1861, and returned to the 
Union in 1868. 

4. Michigan was early visited by the French, who 
formed settlements there. It formed a part of the 
Nortliwest Territory, in 1805 became a Territory by 
itself, and in 1837 was admitted as a State. The name 



THE STATES OF THE UNION. 245 

is said to mean in the Chippewa tongue, " Great Lake." 
It has an important State University. 

5. Florida is that part of tlie United States which 
was earliest occupied by Europeans. It was discovered 
in 1512 by Ponce de Leon, who landed on the coast on 
Easter Sunday, which the Spaniards call Pascua Florida. 
The name was at first given, indefinitely, to a large part of 
the southern portion of the United States. The present 
Florida remained a part of the Spanish possessions until 
1763, when it was given up to Great Britain. In 1788 
it was restored to Spain, but in 1819 it was bought by 
the United States, was organized as a Territory, and 
admitted into the Union in 1845. It passed an ordi- 
nance of secession in 1861, but was one of the first of 
the seceding States to be readmitted into the Union in 
1868. 

6. The name of Texas is taken from that of a small 
tribe of Indians. This great State was a part of the Span- 
ish possessions until 1821, when, with Mexico, it threw 
off the Spanish rule. It remained a province of Mexico 
until 1835, when, with the aid of a number of settlers 
from the United States, it became independent. In 
1845, after a long discussion, it was admitted into the 
Union, and its annexation was the immediate cause of 
the war with Mexico, which had never assented to the 
independence of Texas. The State joined the other 
Southern States in 1861, and was one of the last to 
return to the Union, in 1870. 

7. Iowa was a part of the Louisiana purchase, and was 
included in the Missouri Territory when that was formed. 
It became a separate Territory in 1838, and was admitted 
into the Union in 1846. It was settle'l largely by New 
England people. 



246 THE STATES OF THE UNION. 

8. The name of Wisconsin is taken from that of the 
river, which signifies " the wild, rushing river." The 
country formed a part of the Northwest Territory, and 
then, in succession, of Illinois Territory and Michigan 
Territory. In 1836 it became a separate Territory and 
was admitted as a State in 1848. It has received large 
numbers of inhabitants from the north of Europe. 

0. California was admitted into the Union in 1850, 
and became at once the scene of great activity in mining 
for gold. The gold-mines now form only a part of its 
wealth, for it is one of the great wheat-growing States, 
and is famous also for its fruits. 

10. Minnesota, or " Cloudy Water," was first visited 
by French explorers in 1680. The country, lying on 
both sides of the Mississippi River, was obtained in part 
by conquest from England, when it was included in the 
Northwest Territory, and in part by purchase as a por- 
tion of Louisiana. In 1838 there were but a few log 
cabins on the site of St. Paul, and it was not till 1849 
that the Territory of Minnesota was formed. The Mis- 
souri River at that time was its western boundary. 
The Sioux Indians were a strong tribe and kept out 
settlers, but in 1851 they gave up all their lands east 
of the Sioux River, and then the white population in- 
creased more rapidly. In 1858 Minnesota was admitted 
into the Union. The State suffered severely in 1862 by 
attacks from the Sioux. A war followed, which ended 
in the expulsion of the Indians. 

11. In 1848, all the region west of the Rocky Moun- 
tains and north of California was erected into tlu 
Territory of Oregon. The State of Oregon, with its 
present boundaries, was received into the Union in 
1859. 



^ -^ 




Andrew Johnson. 

Bom December 29, 180S , died July 31, 1875. 
Seventeenth President of the United States. 



248 THE STATES OF THE UNION. 

12. The story of Kansas has already been told. It 
was in 1854 that the Territories of Kansas and Nebraska 
were organized, and from 1854 till 1861, Kansas was the 
scene of a fierce struggle between the slavery and anti- 
slavery parties. At one time there were two Territorial 
governments, and two capitals. Kansas was received 
into the Union, in 1861, just before the breaking out of 
the War for the Union, and gave enthusiastic support 
to the Union cause. 

13. When Virginia joined the Southern Confederacy, 
the western counties of the State strongly opposed the 
movement. In consequence of this, these counties be- 
came the field of the earliest engagements of the war. 
The Union forces held the ground, and in 1863 this 
portion of the State was made by Congress into a new 
State, under the name of West Virginia. 

14. Nevada occupies part of the Territory acquired 
from Mexico. When California was set off, the country 
to the eastward was made Utah Territory. In 1859, the 
discovery of silver in large quantities brought so many 
settlers, that the portion now known as Nevada was 
made into a State in 1864. 

15. Nebraska signifies " Water Valley.'* It shared 
the experience of Kansas, but its more northern posi- 
tion saved it from the extreme difficulties of its sister 
Territory. It was greatly aided in its growth by the 
passage through it of the Pacific Railway, and was 
admitted into the Union in 1867. 

16. Colorado is sometimes called the Centennial State, 
from the fact that after being a Territory for fifteen 
years, it came into the Union, just a hundred years after 
the Declaration of Independence. Its mineral wealth and 
its scenery have attracted many settlers and visitors. 



THE TERRITORIES. 249 

17. In 1889, on Washington's birthday, the President 
of the United States signed an Act of Congress, by 
which four new States were to be added to the Union, 
as soon as the people in the Territories out of which 
these States were to be formed, should ratify the Act. 

18. The first two of these were formed out of Dakota 
Territory, which was organized in 1861 ; they were 
North Dakota and South Dakota. Another was Mon- 
tana, where the discovery of gold had led to rapid 
settlement, so that Montana Territory was organized in 
1864. The fourth was Washington. Washington Ter- 
ritory was formed in 1853. 

19. In the summer of 1890 two more States were ad- 
mitted to the Union : Idaho, which had been a territory 
since 1863, and Wyoming, which had been a territory 
since 1868. In 1847 a company of immigrants had 
made their home in the valleys and on the plain about 
the Great Salt Lake. The rest of the world thought the 
place a desert, but these people watered and planted it 
till it became a rich country. Here in 1850 was organ- 
ized the Territory, and in 1896 the State, of Utah. 

CHAPTER LXVIII. 

THE TERRITORIES. 

1. In speaking of the States received into the Union 
since the original thirteen, we have said, in most in- 
stances, that they were first Territories. There are still 
Territories within the United States, and out of theae 
Territories new States are yet to be formed. 

2. A Territory diff.ers from a State in several par- 
ticulars. The people in a Territory elect their own 



250 THE TERRITORIES. 

legislature, but the governor is appointed by the Presi- 
dent, with the consent of Congress. The Territory 
sends delegates to Congress, but these delegates are 
only agents of the Territory, and have no vote in 
Congress. 

3. In short, the Territories now are very much what 
the colonies were before the formation of the Union. 
They have the management of their local affairs, but 
they depend on the President and Congress, much as 
the colonies depended on the King and Parliament. 

4. The Territories, however, are not all on the same 
footing. The District of Columbia, sometimes called 
Columbian Territory, was originally a portion of land 
held by Virginia and Maryland, which was given up to 
the new nation in 1788 and 1789 to form a capital. 
Washington appointed commissioners to lay out the dis- 
trict, and a Frenchman, Major L'Enfant, planned a city 
and designed the first buildings for the government 
He generously gave his services. 

5. The city, which received tlie name of Washington, 
was ready for Congress in 1800. It suffered severely in 
1814 from the attack of the British. In 1846 Con- 
gress gave back to Virginia the portion of the District 
originally granted by that State. The District is under 
the direct control of Congress, and the inhabitants 
have no voice in the election of President, and no 
representatives in Congress 

6. Indian Territory consists of a large area set apart 
for the occupation of Indian tribes which have been 
removed from other parts of the United States. It is 
wholly under the control of certain tribes, which have 
a form of government similar to the government of a 
State. 




Ulysses Simpson Grant. 

Born April 27, 1822; died July 23, 1885. 
Eighteenth President of the United States. 



252 HOW WE GOVERN OURSELVES. — THE PEOPLE. 

7. Alaska, which was bought of Russia for -17,200,000 
in 1867, has a governor and judges appointed by the 
tPresidont, but it has no legislature. 
• 8. The Territories which are regularly organized, and 
will no doubt, sooner or later, be admitted to the Union 
as States, are the following : New Mexico, organized in 
1850 ; Arizona, organized in 1863 ; and Oklahoma, 
which was set off from Indian Territory in 1889. 



CHAPTER LXIX. 

HOW WE GOVERN OURSELVES. — THE PEOPLE. 

1. We have seen how our nation has grown from its 
beginning. The States were at first colonies planted by 
England, with English laws and English government. 
The people, up to the time of the War for Independence, 
were chiefly descendants of men and women who were 
born in England. 

2. They were separated by a broad ocean from tlie 
King, and Parliament, and the courts of England. Life 
was different in America from what it was in England. 
The English people in America must needs manage 
their own affairs, and they were allowed to do so by 
England ; only their laws were not to conflict with the 
laws of England. 

3. Thus the colonies learned the lesson of self- 
government. Some of the chief officers were sent 
over from England, but, for the most part, the people 
chose from their own number those who were to make 
and execute the laws. They did not greatly care that 



HOW WE GOVERN OURSELVES. — THE PEOPLE. 253 

the governor of the colony, or the collector of a port, 
was appointed by the king; they were still Englishmen, 
and loyal to the crown. 

4. Since the colonies had so much in common, the 
people who lived in them gradually came to know each 
other. They were at home wherever they went. They 
heard the same language, they had the same religion, 
and more than once they fought together against their 
common enemies, the French and the Indians. 

5. But the King and Parliament .ere ignorant of 
America, and when, at last, they began to treat the 
colonists as foreign subjects rather than as Englishmen, 
there was an end to the rule of America by England. 
The people refused to have any officers appointed by the 
king ; they chose their own governors as well as repre- 
sentatives ; they declared themselves wholly independent 
of England, and, after seven years of war, compelled 
England to give up all claims to govern them. 

6. These seven years did much to make the peoples 
of the thirteen colonies one people ; and when, after the 
war was over, they saw that they must be one nation 
and not thirteen nations, they drew up a body of laws 
for the government of the United States, which is called 
the Constitution. It is worth while to read the preamble, 
or preface, to this Constitution, because it gives the rea- 
son why the people formed it 

7. " We, the people of the United States, in order to 
form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure 
domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, 
promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings 
of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and 
establish this Constitution for the United States of 
America." 



254 HOW WE GOVERN OURSELVES. — THE PEOPLE. 

8. It was the people, therefore, of the United States, 
who ordered the Constitution, and determined what the 
government of the nation should be. They did it in order 
that there might be a more perfects Union ; they did not 
want the different parts of the country to be wrangling 
with each other ; they wished to be able to defend their 
common country against any enemy ; and they wished 
to provide for the growth and prosperity of the nation. 

9. Every base-ball club has a captain ; every debating 
society has a president. Almost every time boys or girls 
come together for any game, they choose a leader ; and 
there are always rules, by which they govern themselves 
in their sports. If every one did just as he chose, with- 
out regard to his neighbors' rights, there would be an 
end to peace and harmony. 

10. But we do not make a fresh set of rules every 
time we play a game. We follow the old rules, or, if 
they do not work well, we change them a little ; just so, 
the people of the United States did not make a brand- 
new Constitution. They took the old laws and forms 
under which they had been brought up, and changed 
these just enough to suit the new order of things. 

11. The constitutions of the several States, and the 
Constitution of the United States, took the place of the 
charters and laws, which had been the guides of the colo- 
nies. But those charters and laws always referred to the 
king. They were in the name of the king of England. 
He was regarded as the authority for all law. 

12. It was different after America became indepen- 
dent of England. The constitutions and laws were in 
the name of the people, ani so it has been ever since. 
The highest authority in the country is the people : " We, 
the people, do ordain and establish this Constitution." 




Rutherford Birchard Hayes 

Born October 4, 1822. 

•Vftieteeo^b .•-es^lent of the United Statee. 



256 HOW WE GOVERN OURSELVES. — CONGRESS. 



CHAPTER LXX. 

HOW WE GOVERN OURSELVES. — CONGRESS. 

1. In each colony, and afterward in each State, there 
was an Assembly composed of persons chosen by the 
people to make laws, to lay taxes, and, in general, to 
look after the interests of the colony, or province, or 
State. 

2. This assembly goes under different names in the 
different States ; in Massachusetts it is called the Great 
and General Cour^. ; in Virginia, in Colonial times, it 
was the House of Burgesses ; in New York it is known 
as the Assembly, but, in all the States, it is spoken of 
as the Legislature, and the Legislature in each State is 
composed of two sets of members, — a small body called 
the Senate, selected from large districts of the State ; 
and a large body called the House of Representatives, 
chosen from the small districts or towns into which the 
State is divided. 

3. When the nation was forming, the several colonies 
sent delegates to Philadelphia, and these delegates made 
up what was known as the Continental Congress. When 
the Constitution, under which we live, was framed, this 
Congress was changed somewhat, and made more like 
the assemblies of the several States. 

4. Thus we have at Washington, as the great Assembly 
of the whole nation, the Congress of the United States. 
This Congress consists of two bodies, the Senate and the 
House of Representatives. 



HOW WE GOVERN OURSELVES. — CONGRESS. 25T 



5. Each State sends two men to represent it in the 
Senate, so that with fortj-five States there are ninety 
senators. These senators are chosen to serve six years 
each, but, when a senator has proved himself a service- 
able public man, his State is likely to re-elect him for 
another term of six years. 




The Capitol at Washington. 

6. The number of representatives from each State 
aepends upon the population of the State. As the popu- 
lation of the country increases, the House of Representa- 
tives contains more members. Every ten years, when a 
census of the country is taken, there is a fresh estimate 
made of the number of representatives permitted to a 
State. Each representative is elected to serve two years. 

7. The chief business of Congress is to make the 
laws which shall be for the government of the whole 
people; to decide what money is needed for the ex- 
penses of the government, how it is to be raised, and 
how it is to be spent. 



258 HOW WE GOVERN OURSELVES. — CONGRESS. 

8. Money is needed to pay the expenses of Congress, 
and salaries of the officers of the government ; to pro- 
vide for the army and navy ; to coin gold and silver, 
and to engrave and print paper money ; to build, and 
keep in order, public buildings ; to carry on the post- 
office business ; to pay the cost of courts of justice ; to 
improve harbors and rivers ; to protect the coast with 
forts, and furnish lighthouses at dangerous places ; to 
survey the public lands ; to support the Indians, from 
whom we have taken away the power to support them- 
selves by hunting, and to educate them ; to send agents 
of the government to reside in foreign countries ; to 
pay pensions to soldiers who were wounded in war, or 
to the families of those who died, — and for many other 
purposes. 

9. In order to obtain the necessary money. Congress 
depends chiefly on taxes, in one form or other. It re- 
ceives some money, to be sure, from the sale of public 
lands. The courts are partly supported by fees. The 
post-office is very nearly supported by the sale of postage- 
stamps, but most of the money which Congress expends 
is raised by taxation. 

10. This taxation is chiefly of two kinds, internal 
revenue and tlie tariff. Internal revenue is the mouc} 
received from taxes laid upon certain articles, like 
tobacco and whiskey, which are raised or manufactured 
in the United States. The tariff is the tax laid upon 
goods brought into the country from other nations. 
This tax is also called a duty. At various ports on 
the sea-coast, and at stations on the borders of Canada 
and of Mexico, are officers, called officers of the cus- 
toms, whose business it is to collect these duties upon 
certain goods brought bv vessels or on railroads. 




I 



James Abram Garfield. 

Born November 19, 1831; died September rg, 1881 

Twentieth President of the United States* 



260 HOW WE GOVERN OURSELVES. — CONGRESS. 

11. Congress makes the laws and determines the 
taxes ; its jjroceedings are called the Acts of Congress. 
The method of doing business is, briefly, as follows. A 
member of the House of Representatives, we will say, 
wishes to have a breakwater built, so as to improve a 
harbor on the coast of the State which he represents. 

12. He introduces a Bill, directing this breakwater to 
be built. His bill is placed in the hands of one of the 
committees of the House. This committee consists of a 
few members who have been appointed by the Speaker 
of the House, as the presiding officer is called, for 
the purpose of considering carefully just such matters 
of business. 

13. The committee discusses the bill, asks questions 
of the member and of other members who are thought 
to know most about the needs of the harbor, and finally 
decides to recommend that the bill become an act, or 
that it should not become an act. 

14. It reports accordingly to the House. Let us sup- 
pose that it reports favorably. The bill must then be 
voted upon by the House, and, if agreed to there, it 
must also be sent to the Senate to be voted upon. If 
both the House and the Senate agree upon it, then the 
bill is sent to the President. 

15. If he approves the bill, he signs his name to it, 
and then it becomes an Act of Congress, and the proper 
persons are instructed to see that the breakwater is 
built. If he does not approve it, he sends it back to 
Congress, with a message explaining why he does not 
think best to sign it. 

16. This refusal of the President to sign the bill is 
called a veto, from a Latin word meaning, " I forbid." 
A bill must be signed bv the President in order to 



HOW WE GOVERN OURSELVES -THE PRESIDENT. 261 

become law. But if, after the President has refused to 
sign a bill, two thirds of the members of each House of 
Congress should again vote for the bill, it becomes a 
law, even without the signature of the President. 



CHAPTER LXXI. 

HOW WE GOVERN OURSELVES. — THE PRESIDENT. 

1. The members of Congress are chosen from the 
several States and districts in the States, and they are 
called the senators, or members from their State, as 
the senator from Virginia or Missouri, or the mem- 
ber from Pennsylvania. The people in one State have 
nothing to say about the election of members from 
another State. 

2. The President is the President of the whole nation, 
and he is chosen by all the people of the nation. Yet 
the people do not vote directly for the President. They 
vote in the several States for persons called electors, 
who' choose the President and Vice-President. 

3. In each State there are as many electors chosen 
as there are senators and representatives from that 
State in Congress. In the early days of the nation the 
people chose the electors without knowing whom these 
would select for President and Vice-President. They 
chose well-known public men, whom they could trust 
to make a wise choice for President. 

4. It was not long, however, before people divided 
into two great political parties, with sometimes a third 
or fourth party, each party being held together by a 
common policy, and having prominent public men as 



262 HOW WE GOVERN OURSELVES. ~ THE PRESIDENT. 

leaders. Thus, when electors were chosen, people voted 
for men of their own party, and it was quite clearly 
understood beforehand whom the parties expected their 
electors to choose as President. 

5. Finally, to place the matter beyond doubt, each 
party adopted the plan of holding a convention, or 




i&l-iiml - s 



I \^^'^m 




The White House, — Residence of the President. 

meeting, a few months before the time for choosing 
presidential electors. At this convention votes are 
taken to see whom the party wishes for President and 
Vice-President, and those who are thus chosen become 
the candidates of the party. 

6. The people continue to vote for electors, but, at the 
head of the ballot containing the names of electors, are 
l)laccd the names of the persons whom they expect the 
electors to vote for, when they meet to choose a Presi- 
dent and Vice-President. 

7. The election takes place every four years, on the 
Tuesday following the first Monday in November, and 
the President enters upon his duties on the 4th of March 




Chester Alan Arthur. 

Born October 5, 1830 ; died November 18, 1886 
Twenty-first President of the United States. 



2G4: HOW WE GOVEKN OL'llSELVES. — THE PliESlDENT. 

following. He must be a natural-born citizen. He 
must be not less tlian thirty-five years of age, and must 
liave been fourteen years a resident within the United 
States. 

8. The Constitution defines the duties of the President 
as follows : " He shall from time to time give to the 
Congress information of the state of the Union, and 
recommend to their consideration such measures as he 
shall judge necessary and expedient [such communica- 
tions to Congress are called the President's Messages] ; 
he may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, 
or either of them, and in case of disagreement between 
them with respect to the time of adjournment, he may 
adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper ; he 
shall receive ambassadors and other public ministers ; 
he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed, 
and shall commission all the officers of the United 
States." 

9. The President is commander-in-chief of the army 
and navy of the United States. He also appoints am- 
bassadors, other foreign ministers, consuls, judges of 
the Supreme Court, and a great many other officers, 
including certain postmasters. His appointments must, 
however, be agreed to by the Senate, before they become 
legal. 

10. It would be impossible for the President to attend, 
personally, to all the business that falls to him, and there- 
fore he appoints certain men to take charge of the differ- 
ent departments of administration. He consults with 
these men, wiio form his council of advisers,- and are 
called the President's Cabinet. 

11. The Cabinet consists of eight men. The Secretary 
of State attends to the business wdiich grows out of 



THE PRESIDENTS. 265 

the intercourse of the nation with other nations, gives 
directions to ambassadors and consuls, and receives 
the ambassadors from other nations. The Secretary of 
the Treasury has oversight of all that relates to the 
revenue. There is a Secretary of War, and a Secretary 
of the Navy. The Secretary of the Interior has charge 
of the patent office, the census office, the public lands, 
Indian affairs, public education, and much else that re- 
lates to the industry and prosperity of the country. 
The Postmaster-General is at the head of all the post- 
offices. The Attorney-General is the lawyer of the gov- 
ernment, who gives to the President advice on all 
questions touching law ; and the Secretary of Agriculture 
has charge of the great farming interests of the country. 
12. The Vice-President presides over the Senate. If 
the President should die during his term of office, the 
Vice-President would take his place and become Presi- 
dent. If both the President and Vice-President were 
to die, then the office of the President would be filled 
by a member of the President's Cabinet, — the Secre- 
tary of State, if that member is living ; if not living, 
then the first who may be living of the other Cabinet 
officers in a fixed order. 



CHAPTER LXXII. 

THE PRESIDENTS. 

1. When one is studying the history of England, there 
is a long list of kings and queens to be learned. The 
reigns of these sovereigns are the divisions of its his- 
tory. The laws enacted have, at their head, the name 
of the king or queen, in whose ^eign they are passed. 



266 THE PRESIDENTS. 

These reigns are of different lengths, according to the 
lives of the sovereigns. 

2. In studying the history of our nation, we have 
found that the Constitution is in the name of the people, 
that the people are the real sovereigns, and that the 
persons chosen by the people to carry on the govern- 
ment are the ministers, or servants, of the people. 

3. The chief of these ministers is the President, and 
we often speak of events as occurring in the administra- 
tion of this or that President. There have been twenty- 
three Presidents of the United States since the first 
was elected in 1789. Some of them have been chosen 
to fill the office a second time, and some have died 
before completing their term of office. Several of the 
Presidents have already been spoken of in connection 
with the growth of the nation. It is well to recall 
the names of all, in regular order. 

4. The first President was George Washington, of 
Virginia. He entered upon his duties April 30, 1789, 
and after he had served four years, he was chosen to 
serve four years more ; but at the end of the second 
term he refused to be considered a candidate for re- 
election. After he had retired from office, the country 
was in danger of war with France, and he was ready 
to take command of the army ; but the alarm died 
away, and had nearly ceased when Washington died, 
December 14, 1799. 

5. John Adams, of Massachusetts, had been Yicc-Prcsi- 
dent during Washington's administration, and was chosen 
President, to succeed his great chief, in 1797. He was 
succeeded by Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, in 1801. 

6. Jefferson was President for two terms. The great 
event of his administration was the purchase of Louisi- 




Grover Cleveland 

Bom March i8. 1837. 

Twenty-second and iwenty-tourth President of the United States 



268 THE PllESIDENTS. 

ana in 1803. By a singular fortune, Adams and Jeffer- 
son died on the same day, the 4th of July, 1826, just 
fifty years from the date of that Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, which Jefferson mainly wrote, and of which 
they were both stout defenders, 

7. The fourth President, James Madison, was a Vir- 
ginian, like Washington and Jefferson. He also served 
eight years, from 1809 to 1817. It was during his double 
term that the second war with England occurred, and 
that the first experimental railway in the country was 
constructed. Madison was succeeded by another Vir- 
ginian, James Monroe, who served two terms, from 
1817 to 1825. During his term the Erie Canal was 
begun and finished. 

8. John Quincy Adams, the successor to Monroe, was 
a son of John Adams, the second President, and had 
been trained in government service, having been with 
his father when he was a foreign minister, and having 
himself served as minister to the Netherland, to Por- 
tugal, to Prussia, to Great Britain, and to Russia. He 
was also one of the commissioners to frame a treaty of 
peace with Great Britain after the War of 1812. He 
was President from 1825 to 1829, and, two years later, 
returned to Washington as member of the House of 
Representatives, from his native State, Massachusetts, 
and continued as such till 1848. He died in the House 
while delivering a speech. 

9. Andrew Jackson, of Tennessee, the seventh Presi- 
dent, was born in the same year with John Quincy 
Adams, in 1767 ; but, unlike his predecessor in office, 
found his training in rough frontier life, in the South- 
west. He became famous as the general in command 
at the battle of New Orleans, and waF very popular as 



THE PRESIDENTS. 269 

a brave, strong-willed, ardent man. He served as Presi- 
dent from 1829 till 1837, and was in office when South 
Carolina attempted to nullify the laws of the United 
States. It was largely his firmness that prevented what 
would have been a great disaster. He died in 1845. 

10. Martin Van Buren, of New York, was Secretary 
of State in Jackson's fxrst term, and Vice-President in 
his second term. He succeeded Jackson as President, 
and held office from 1837 to 1841. 

11. William Henry Harrison was born in Virginia, 
and spent his early life on the frontier as an officer in 
the United States army. He was appointed governor of 
Indiana Territory, and won fame in battles with Indians. 
He was chosen to succeed Van Buren, but died April 4, 
1841, just one month after his inauguration. 

12. It was the first time that a President had died in 
office, and great interest was felt as to the course of the 
Vice-President, John Tyler of Virginia, who now be- 
came President. Tyler disappointed Harrison's friends, 
and acted in opposition to his party. He held office till 
1845, and died in 1862. 

13. James Knox Polk, of Tennessee, the eleventh 
President, served from 1845 till 1849, dying three 
months after leaving office. The Mexican War was 
carried on during his administration. This war was 
unpopular, and had much to do with the defeat of the 
party that favored it, but it brought into public notice a 
sturdy soldier, Zachary Taylor, of Louisiana, who was 
nominated for President by the Whig party, which had 
opposed the war. 

14. Taylor was elected, and took office in 1849, but 
died in sixteen months, and was succeeded by Millard 
Fillmore, who had been chosen Vice-President. Fillmore 



270 THE PRESIDENTS. 

was from New York, and served the remainder of the 
term, that is, until 1853. The contest over slavery began 
to be especially violent during his administration, and 
the signing of the Fugitive Slave Bill made him unpopu- 
lar with many of his party. He lived to see the end of 
slavery, for he died in 1874. 

15. Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire, the fourteenth 
President, held office from 1853 till 1857, and died in 
1869. 

16. Pierce was succeeded by James Buchanan, of 
Pennsylvania, who had been long in public life, both in 
legislatures and as foreign minister. In his adminis- 
tration the contest over slavery reached its height, and 
when he went out of office in 1861, the country seemed 
like a ship drifting without sails or rudder. 

17. Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, took the helm, as 
President, in 1861, and, when the storm of war burst, 
it was found that the country had a true captain. His 
administration covered the whole period of the War for 
the Union, and when he entered upon his second term 
'n 1865, it was to hold office just long enough to taste 
Ihe sweets of peace, w^ien he was stricken down by an 
assassin. 

18. The Vice-President who had been elected in 1864 
was Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, who ^vas selected 
AS Lincoln's associate, because, though a Southern man, 
he had been a strong supporter of the Union. Johnson 
now became President. He did not hold views in agree- 
ment with the majority of Congress, and so wide became 
the breach between him and Congress, that, before the 
end of his term, President Johnson was impeached b}> 
Congress for "high crimes and misdemeanors." Con 
gress failed of securing a conviction, and the President 




Benjamin Harrison. 

Born August 20, 1833; died March 13, 1901. 
Twenty-third President ot the United States. 



272 THE PRESIDENTS. 

remained in office until his term closed m 1869. He 
was afterward elected to the Senate, but died shortly 
after he took his seat, in 1875. 

19. During the stormy period in which Johnson's 
term ended, there was a universal dependence upon the 
great general who had brought the War for the Union 
to a successful close, and General Ulysses S. Grant of 
Illinois was elected eighteenth President, by a large 
majority. He held office for two terms, and, during 
his administration, the last of the States which had 
seceded was restored to the Union. After he left 
office. General Grant made a notable journey round 
the world. He died July 23, 1885. 

20. Rutherford Birchard Hayes, of Ohio, succeeded 
General Grant in the Presidency, and held office from 
1877 till 1881. 

21. He was followed by James Abram Garfield^ also 
of Ohio, who had been a general in the War for the 
Union, and for many years a prominent member of 
Congress. He had held the office of President but 
four months when he was shot by an assassin ; he 
was mortally wounded, but lingered until September 
19, 1881, when he died, mourned by the nation. 

22. Chester Alan Arthur, of New York, was elected 
Vice-President with Garfield, and, upon the death of 
tlie President, succeeded to the place. He held office till 
the close of the term in 1885, and died November 18, 
lb86. 

23. As we have seen, the twenty-second president, 
Grover Cleveland, was the first Democrat to hold that 
office after the war. He had been mayor of the city of 
Buffalo, and governor of the State of New York. It was 
durino; his administration that Arbor Day beo'an to be 



THE PRESIDENTS. 273 

celebrated, and that the State of New York opened to 
the public the reservation of Niagara Falls. The United 
States government in 1872 had set apart the Yellowstone 
Park, and from this time national, State, and city gov- 
ernments took measures to preserve the forests and 
make beautiful pleasure-grounds. 

24. Cleveland held office four years, and was suc- 
ceeded in 1889 by a Republican, Benjamin Harrison, of 
Indiana, whose grandfather was William Henry Harri- 
son, the ninth president. His great-grandfather, another 
Benjamin Harrison, was one of the signers of the Dec- 
laration of Independence. General Washington had 
been a warm friend of the first Benjamin Harrison, and 
it is not unlikely that the president thought of this when 
he joined in the great celebration at New York, April 30, 
1889, of the centennial of the inauguration of the first 
president of the United States. 

25. When Harrison's administration drew near its 
close, the two great parties again contended for the gov- 
ernment. The Republicans nominated Harrison for a 
second term, and the Democrats renominated Cleveland. 
The Democrats won the day, and Cleveland again took 
the president's chair for four years. 

26. Plans had been made several years before to 
celebrate the four hundredth anniversary of the coming, 
of Columbus to America. A beautiful park was laid 
out in Chicago, with water in winding ways through it ; 
noble buildings were placed in the park, and filled with 
all manner of useful and beautiful objects ; men of many 
nations came and set up little villages, and there w^ere 
congresses for the discussion of education, literature, 
art, science, and religion. It will be long before the 
wonders of the Columbian Exposition are forgotten. 



274: 



THE PRESIDENTS. 




William McKinley. 

Born January 29, 1843. 

Twenty-fifth President of the United States. 

27. Ill 1897, the Republican party returned to power, 
and William McKinley, of Ohio, who had been a major 
in the war for the Union, and later was representative in 
Congress and governor of Ohio, became president. In 
1900 he was re-elected, in opposition to William J. 
Bryan, the candidate of the Democratic party. 



THE COURTS AND JUDGES. 275 



CHAPTER LXXIIL 

HOW WE GOVERN OURSELVES. =- THE COURTS AND 
JUDGES. 

1. Of all the appointments made by the President, the 
most important one is that of judges of the United States 
Courts. The highest court is known as the Supreme 
Court, and sits at Washington. 

2. These United States Courts hear all cases at law 
between the United States and a person ; between two 
States ; between citizens of different States ; and be- 
tween a State or any of its citizens and foreign States 
or citizens. 

3. But each State has also its courts of law and its 
judges. There are different grades of courts in each 
State. The courts are sometimes State Courts, some- 
times county courts, sometimes city or police courts. 

4. Why are there so many courts, and why are there 
courts at all ? It is because the nation governs itself by 
means of the laws, which it makes. If any one breaks 
one of these laws, he has done an injury to the nation 
or tlie State. He is not to be punished by the person 
whom he may have wronged, but by the State or nation 
to which they both belong. 

5. It becomes necessary to find out exactly what 
wrong he has committed, or, if he has been unjustly 
accused, to show that lie is innocent. Therefore the 
State provides that every one accused of wrong-doing 
shall liave a fair trial before a court. 

6. He may admit that he is guilty. Then the judge 
declares what punishment he shall receive, whether it 



276 



THE COURTS AND JUDGES. 



be to go to prison or to pay a fine. But the judge must 
decide this according to laws already made. 

7. Or, he may say that he is not guilty. Then he is 
allowed to defend himself, or to employ a lawyer to 




The United States Supreme Court. 

defend him. The court is to listen to the evidence, 
and in many cases, it also requires twelve neighbors of 
the accused person, called the jury, to hear the evidence, 
and to decide whether or not the person is guilty. 

8. The courts, therefore, are to punish evil-doers, to 
protect the innocent, and to secure their rights to all 
persons who are injured by others. They are called 
courts of justice, for they are intended to see to it that 
people live justly and honestly. 



HOW WE GOVERN OURSELVES. — THE VOTER. 277 



CHAPTER LXXIV. 

HOW WE GOVERN OURSELVES. — THE VOTER. 

1. In some countries, the man who works in the shop, 
or in the field, has nothing to say about the government 
of his country. He only knows that there are laws 
which he did not make ; that he is taxed, but has noth^ 
ing to say about how the taxes shall be raised, or the 
money shall be spent ; that he is liable to be called upon 
to fight in the army, but has no power to say whether 
there shall be war or not. 

2. In our nation it is not so. Every man who is born 
here, or who becomes a citizen after he has landed from 
some other country, is one of the governors of the coun- 
try. It is his right to say how the government shall be 
conducted, and it is his duty to do so. 

3. When he becomes twenty-one years of age, he can 
take part in public meetings, and help to choose the men 
who are to manage public affairs. If he lives in a town, 
he can, and ought to, vote at the town-meeting. There 
the officers of the town are chosen for the coming year, 
and the townspeople decide how much they ought to 
spend for schools and roads and other necessities. 

4. If he lives in a city, he has the opportunity and the 
duty of going to the meetings of the ward in which he 
lives, and helping to choose the men who shall form the 
administration of the city. If unprincipled or selfish 
men get into office, it is his business to see that they are 
not re-elected. 



278 HOW WE GOVERN OURSELVES. — THE VOTER. 

5. Whether he lives in town or city, he has the right 
and the duty to help in the choice of governor of the 
State ; of representatives to the State legislature ; of 
representatives to Congress ; sometimes also of judges ; 
and, once in four years, of the President of the nation. 

6. When a man indicates his choice of officers, he is 
said to vote, or to cast a vote. He places in a box, 
called the ballot-box, a paper containing the name of 
the person he wishes to choose for each office. This 
paper, or ticket, is his vote, and when the hours for the 
election have closed, the votes are counted, and the per- 
sons whose names are on the greatest number of tickets 
cast are declared to be elected. 

7. We make laws in our legislatures for the proper 
protection of the ballot-box ; to see that no person votes 
except where he lives ; that no person casts more than 
one vote ; that the votes are properly counted, and, in 
various ways, to make sure that the will of the people 
shall be regarded. 

8. But there is one thing which the law cannot do. 
It cannot compel a man to vote. Only the man himself 
can do that. It is for him to say whether he will vote, 
honestly and faithfully, and so help to preserve the 
nation, or whether he will stay away and think to have 
all the blessings of good government, without doing his 
part to secure them. 



RECENT EVENTS. 279 

CHAPTER LXXY. 

RECENT EVENTS. 

1. Spain was the first European country to begin the 
occupation of America, and at one time governed Cuba, 
Mexico, Central America, and a great part of South 
America. But not long after our second war with 
England, Mexico threw off the dominion of Spain and 
set up a republic after the pattern of the United States. 
So did the Spanish provinces in Central and South 
America, and thus it came about that Spain w^as left 
with only Cuba, Porto Rico, and some smaller islands 
in American waters. 

2. One reason why Spain lost Mexico and other 
provinces was her misrule of those countries. She 
was concerned principally in enriching herself; she 
made laws which were intended to compel the people 
to sell to her only and buy of her only, and she sent 
governors and other officers of the crown whose main 
purpose was to get rich, and not to improve the country 
they governed. 

3. Cuba also, like Mexico and the South American 
provinces, tried repeatedly to throAv off the yoke of 
Spain. At three separate times she raised a rebellion 
and the third time the Cubans kept up the fight for ten 
years. But they were unsuccessful. Meanwhile, the 
Cubans who aimed at independence were active in the 
United States, and in company with American adven- 
turers were always ready, when there was a rising in 
the island, to send expeditions and arms, if they could, 
from United States ports. 



280 RECENT EVENTS. 

4. The United States government, therefore, had to 
keep vigilant Avatch to prevent these movements against 
a nation with which she was at peace. Americans, who 
were engaged in legitimate business in Cuba, were fre- 
quently imprisoned, and the United States found it hard 
to get redress. 

5. Affairs went on from bad to worse. When, in 
1895, the rebellion in Cuba blazed up again, the Span- 
ish governor, General Weyler, determined to fight the 
fire with fire. He compelled great numbers of country 
people to come within the neighborhood of towns, and 
camjD there, while he burnt over and otherwise destroyed 
the country, thinking thus to impoverish and starve out 
the rebels. 

6. The result was a great increase of misery, sickness, 
and starvation, both in town and country. Murmurs 
of indignation rose in other countries and especially in 
the United States. President McKinley, shortly after 
coming into office, used every endeavor to induce Spain 
to make peace with Cuba, and at the same time he 
called upon his countrymen to send provisions and 
other aid to the starving Cubans. 

7. It was while the Spanish government seemed to 
be yielding to the President's urgent demands, and the 
Red Cross Society was carrying food to Cuba, that a 
terrible event occurred. The United States battle-ship 
"Maine," at anchor in the harbor of Havana, suddenly 
blew up on the night of February 15, 1898, and a large 
number of officers and men was immediately killed. 

8. The people of the country were incensed, for they 
were persuaded that the act was caused Avith the con- 
nivance, if not by the order, of Spanish officers; but 
they waited more than a month for the report which 



RECENT EVENTS. 281 

should be made by the court of inquiry appointed by 
the President. The finding of the court was that the 
explosion was from some source outside of the vessel. 
The people held Spain responsible. 

9. From all parts of the country they called on Con- 
gress to compel Spain to leave an island which she 
had so misgoverned and ruined. The President noti- 
fied Congress that he had gone to the limits of his 
authority in seeking for a peaceful solution of the 
problem, and Congress now passed a series of resolu- 
tions empowering the President to use the land and 
naval forces of the United States to eject Spain from 
Cuba, if she did not voluntarily evacuate the island. 
But it was declared that the United States desired 
only to see Cuba free, and did not purpose to annex 
the island. 

10. Spain immediately took these resolutions as 
meaning war, and broke off all relations with the United 
States. Both countries had been preparing for the con- 
flict which seemed to be coming. Congress declared 
that war began April 21, 1898. All eyes were turned 
on Cuba and on the navies of the United States and 
Spain, when suddenly a battle was fought in the far 
East which immensely widened the field of action. 

11. On the first day of May, Admiral, then Commo- 
dore, Dewey, in command of a squadron in the Pacific, 
attacked and completely destroyed the Spanish squadron 
in the harbor of Manila, the chief port of the Philip- 
pine Islands, a colony of Spain, where also a rebellion 
was in progress. Immediately the United States took 
measures to send troops to occupy Manila. 

12. The invasion of Cuba was begun by the land- 
ing of troops near Santiago. The Cuban ports Avere 



282 RECENT EVENTS. 

blockaded, and when the Spanish Admiral, Cervera, 
attempted to escape with his fleet from the harbor of 
Santiago, the American fleet destroyed his vessels and 
took him and other officers and sailors prisoners. 

13. The general in command at Santiago surrendered 
the town and the neighboring district together with 
a large force, and the United States in accepting the 
surrender agreed to return the Spanish forces to Spain. 
Another expedition landed in Porto Rico and began 
rapidly to get possession of that island. 

14. But Spain saw that it was useless to make 
further resistance. Through the French ambassador 
in Washington she asked what terms of peace would 
be granted; and on August 12, 1898, a protocol, or 
preliminary arrangement, was signed. 

15. This meant that fighting should stop, but before 
the action Avas knoAvn in Manila, Admiral Dewey in 
command of the navy, and General Merritt in com- 
mand of the army there gathered, had made a com- 
bined attack on that city and captured it. 

16. As soon as the protocol was signed, the President 
appointed five commissioners who went to the city of 
Paris and there met five commissioners from Spain, and 
these representatives of the two nations drew up a 
treaty of peace. By this treaty, Spain gave up all 
claim to govern Cuba ; ceded to the United States 
Porto Rico and all her other possessions in the West 
Indies; gave up also an island in the Ladrone archi- 
pelago to the United States ; and finally, in return for 
$20,000,000, gave to the United States all the rights 
she possessed in the Philippine Islands. 

17. The Hawaiian Islands, which were largely re- 
claimed from heathenism by the efforts of American 



RECENT EVENTS. 283 

missionaries, and have had a close business intercourse 
with the United States, had formed a republican govern- 
ment, and desired to become a part of the United States. 
During the war with Spain, it seemed to many impor- 
tant that these islands, lying in the great ocean high- 
way, should be thus annexed; accordingly, in July, 
1898, an act was passed in Congress, by which the 
Hawaiian Islands were annexed to the United States. 

18. There were many persons in the United States 
who were very much opposed to the addition of the 
Philippine Islands to the domain of the Union. They 
said that the islands were remote, on the coast of Asia ; 
that the inhabitants of the islands were of a different 
race, unaccustomed to that self-government which is at 
the basis of society in the United States ; and that the 
republican government, under which Americans live, 
was not adapted to the management of dependencies. 

19. Nor were the Filipinos, as the inhabitants of the 
islands were called, ready at once to accept the govern- 
ment of the United States. Some of them were at w^ar 
with Spain, and when the Americans destroyed the Span- 
ish power, these Filipinos hoped to have an independent 
country. When they found that the United States did 
not intend to leave them to themselves, they began to 
fight for independence. 

20. The Filipinos are not a single, united people, but 
a group of various tribes, some much more advanced in 
civilization than others. The leader of the body of 
men seeking to establish a government of their own 
was Aguinaldo, and he now became their leader when 
they resisted the authority of the United States. 

21. Spain had transferred its authority over the 
Philippines to the United States. It was not an actual, 



284 RECENT EVENTS. 

perfect authority, but it was the only authority recog- 
nized by the nations of the Avorld. Accordingly the 
United States sent an army to the islands to support 
the authority it had received from Spain. 

22. At the same time the President appointed a com- 
mission headed by Dr. Schurman, president of Cornell 
University, with instructions to gain all the informa- 
tion it could respecting the new possession, and to try 
to bring about a good understanding with the natives. 
But Aguinaldo and his forces refused to recognize the 
authority of the United States, and hostilities were 
kept up for more than two years, when the capture of 
Aguinaldo, in the spring of 1901, marked a great de- 
cline in this opposition. 

23. Meanwhile the Schurman Commission had made 
its report, and the President now sent out a new com- 
mission under the leadership of Judge Taft, of Ohio, 
and this commission is engaged in establishing local 
governments throughout the islands, and substituting 
law and order for the Spanish misrule. 

24. After Spain withdrew its forces from Cuba, the 
United States established a small army in the island, 
and appointed General Leonard Wood governor to 
manage affairs and keep order till the Cubans should 
establish their own government. In the winter of 1900 
the Cubans met in convention to form a constitution and 
government, and the United States Congress, before it 
adjourned in March, instructed President McKinley to 
withdraw the troops and leave Cuba to its own govern- 
ment, as soon as the Cubans should agree to certain 
provisions which were intended to secure their indepen- 
dence, yet protect the United States from dangers aris- 
ing from foreign hostility and misrule in Cuba. 



INDEX. 



The figures enclosed in brackets indicate the dates of birth and death of the person 
whose name they follow. 



Abolitionists, the, 194, 204. 

Abraham, Plains of, battle on the, 88. 

Acadia, 83; expulsion of French 
from, 86, 87. 

Acts of Congress, 260. 

Adams, John [1735-1826], what he 
thought of Independence Day, 128; 
his value to the patriot cause, 143, 
144 ; his lack of authority as minister 
to England, 154; the first vice-Presi- 
dent, 158; President, 266. 

Adams, John Quincy [1767-1848], 
268. 

Adams, Sam [1722-1803], a leader 
of the patriots. 111; at the "Old 
South," 114; is warned against cap- 
ture, 117; his influence over the 
people, 141. 

Africa, the coast of, explored by tlie 
Portuguese, 20, 30. 

Aguinaldo, 284. 

Alabama, history of, 242. 

Alaska, 252. 

Albany, settled by the Dutch, 33 ; cen- 
tral position of, 84; meeting of colo- 
nies at, 89. 

America, origin of the name, 29, 30, 32. 

Anderson, Major Robert [1805-1871], 
defends Fort Sumter, 212-214. 

Andr^, John [1751-1780], engaged in 
Arnold's treason, 133. 

Arab and his camel, the, 57, 58. 

Arizona Territory, 252. 



Arkansas, history of, 244. 

Arnold, Benedict £1741-1801], a trai- 
tor, 133. 

Arthur, Chester Alan [1830-188G], 
272. 

Astor, John Jacob [1763-1848], 199. 

Baltimore, origin of the name, 67. 

Baltimore Family, the, 67, 68. 

Barbadoes Islands, settlers from, 71. 

Blacks, condition of the, after the 
war for the Union, 226. 

Blackstone, the hermit of Boston 
[1596-1675], 51. 

Blockade of Southern ports, 205, 
218-222. 

Bonaparte, Napoleon [1709-1821]. 
164; emperor of France, 164; sells 
Louisiana to the United States, 165. 

Boston founded, 51; its early appear- 
ance, 51; its action regarding Brit- 
ish troops, 109; Massacre at, 110; 
protests against the tax on tea. 111; 
has its port closed, 115. 

Braddock, Edward [1715?-1755], de- 
feat of, 85; aided by Franklin, 102. 

Brother .Jonathan, 233. 

Buchanan, James [1791-1868], 270. 

Buffalo, how used by Indians, 16. 

Bunker Hill, 120; battle of, 122-125. 

Burgoyne, General [1722-1792], 129; 
effect of his defeat on the French 
alliance, 134. 



INDEX. 



Cabinet, the President's, 264, 265. 

Cabot discovers North America, 33. 

Calhoun, Jolin C. fl7S2-l850], 'J34. 

California, first visited by Spaniards, 
30; becomes a part of the United 
States, 196; discovery of gold in, 
202; change of industry in, 203; 
admitted into the Union, 203; his- 
tory of, 246. 

Calvert, Cecilius, 68. 

Calvert, George [1582-1632], 67, 68. 

Calvert, Leonard [1606-1647], 68. 

Cambridge, Massachusetts, 52, 65; 
camp at, 120. 

Canals, introduced into the United 
States, 170. 

Canary Islands, the, 21. 

Cape Fear River, settlers on, 71. 

Cape of Good Hope, 20. 

Capital, choice of position for, 160. 

Carlisle, Pa., school for Indians at, 
187. 

Carolinas, the two, 72. 

Catholics, Roman, in Maryland, 68,234. 

Centennial celebrations, 225, 226. 

Cervera, Admiral, 282. 

Champlain discovers the lake to which 
his name is given, 32. 

Charles II. [1630-1685], King of Eng- 
land, gives a tract of land to Wil- 
liam Penn, 62; is amused at the 
Quakers settling among Indians, 64; 
gives awa}' the Carolinas, 72. 

Charleston, South Carolina, founding 
of, 72; its importance, 73, 77; the 
forts in the harbor of, 212; opening 
of the war for the Union in, 214. 

Charlestown, Massachusetts, settled, 
50; battle of Bunker Hill at, 122- 
125. 

Charters granted by the king, 57. 

Chattanooga, battle of, 240- 

Chicago, World's Columbian Expo.-i- 
tion at, 229, 273; fire at, 242. 

Chowan River, settlements on. 71. 

Christian Commission, the, 222. 

Christianity, the Spaniards propose ro 
convert the people of the New World 
to, 27; labors of tlie Puritans in be- 
half of, with the In<lians. 58; labors 



of the French priests in same ^ause, 
81. 

Church of England, 28; separatists 
from, 42; division in, 48. 

Cleveland, Grover [1837- ], elected 
President, 229, 272. 

Coal, the first use of, in America, 172. 

Colonies, the American, after their es- 
tablishment, 76-78; character of, 
103-106. 

Colorado, 248. 

Columbia River discovered by Captain 
Gray, 198. 

Colunibus, Christopher [1436 V-1506], 
born, 22; his early life, 22; por- 
trait of, 23 ; his dream of reaching 
India by sailing west, 24; is ill-used 
by Portugal, 25; makes friends, 25; 
persuades the king and queen of 
Spain, 26; his agreement with them, 
26; sets sail from Palos, 27 ; puts in 
at the Canary Islands to repair his 
ships, 27; has difficulty with his 
men, 28; lands on one of the Ba- 
hamas, 28; returns to Spain, 28; 
makes other voyages, 29. 

Commons in New England, 46. 

Concord, Provincial Congress at, 117; 
fight at, 119 ; celebration of centen- 
nial of, 226. 

Confederate currency, 219. 

Confederate States of America, 212. 

Congress, the Continental, 116; hears 
of Lexington and Concord, 122; ap- 
points Washington commander-in- 
chief, 122; advises the colonies to 
form governments, 127; takes up 
the question of independence, 127; 
its weakness, 153, 154. 

Congress of the United States, meets 
for the first time, 159; its pa^-ment 
of soldiers in western lands, 185; 
its discussion of slavery, 192; its 
action toward Texas, 196; its deal- 
ings with South Carolina, 207; de- 
bates in, on slavery, 208; action of, 
toward the South after the war for 
the Union. 225; how it does its 
work, 256-261. 

Connecticut, the beginning of, 54, 55; 



INDEX. 



Indian war in, 59 ; movement from, 
to Long Island, 60 ; its history, 233. 

Constitution of tlie United States, 
156-158; preamble to, 253; its place 
in government, 254. 

Constitutional convention, 156. 

Copperheads in the war, 220. 

Cornwallis, Lord [1738-1805], surren- 
ders to Washington, 131. 

Cotton, in the South, 173; during the 
war for the Union, 218. 

Courts of the United States, 275. 276. 

Creeks, a tribe of Indians, 13; in 
Georgia, 233. 

Cuba, the war in, 279-282. 

Dakota, North and South, 249. 

Darrah, William and Lydia, the story 
of, 138, 139. 

Dartmouth College, 236. 

Davis, Jefferson [180.8-1889], 219. 

Debt, imprisonment for, 73, 74. 

Declaration of Independence, 128 ; in 
its relation to slavery, 192. 

Decoration Day, 224. 

Delaware, founding of, 66 ; its history, 
230-232. 

Dewey, George, achievements of, 281, 
282.* 

District of Columbia, slavery abolished 
in the, 208 ; how originated, 250. 

Dorchester, Massachusetts, 55. 

Dorchester Heights, 122. 

Dutch, the, in America, 31; their 
bravery, 31 ; they defeat Spain, 32; 
seek for India and tind the Hudson 
River, 32; trade with the Indians 
and settle New York, 33; their deal- 
ings with the Indians, 60 ; yield to 
the English, 60; retain their cus- 
toms and language, 61; in New 
Jersey, 61. 

Electoral, Commission, 229. 

Eliot, John [1604-1690], and his labors 

for the Indians, 58. 
Elizabeth, queen of England [1533- 

1603], 36. 
Emigration from Europe during the 

war for the Union, 222. 



England, condition of, at close of six- 
teenth century, 34; renounces al- 
legiance to the Pope, 34; becoming 
a country to emigrate from, 36 ; rise 
of the Puritan party in, 48 ; move- 
ment from, to New England, 50; 
contest of, with France for posses- 
sion of America, 82-88; her wide 
possessions, 89 ; differences between 
America and,-103; the breach be- 
tween America and, 126 ; relations 
of, with America after the war, 163 ; 
at war with France, 164 ; her treat- 
ment of American ships, 166; goes 
to war with the United States, 168. 
English, the, make voyages to Amer- 
ica, 33; attack the Spanish, 33; be- 
gin to settle in America, 33; claim 
possession of the Atlantic coast, 34; 
send a colony to Virginia, 36; their 
former colony in Virginia, 38 ; their 
colonial government of America, 
76-78. 
Erie Canal, the, 170; gives an impe- 
tus to the growth of New York, 
182, 237. 
Europe, wakes from along sleep, 30; 
relations of, with America, 163; 
emigration from, to America, 188. 
" Evangeline," Longfellow's, 87. 



Fable of the bundle of sticks, 153, 
154. 

Faneuil Hall, 112. 

Ferdinand, king of Spain [1452-1516], 
26. 

Fillmore, Millard [1800-1874], 270. 

Flag of the United States, the, 230. 

Florida, history of, 245. 

" Fool's gold " found in Virginia, 37. 

Fort Duquesne, 83, 84. 

Fort Sumter, 213, 214. 

France, fishermen from, visit New- 
foundland, 30; takes possession of 
the St. Lawrence region, 31 ; its sol- 
diers, missionaries, and traders, 31 ; 
contest with England for possession 
of America, 82-S9 ; aids America in 



INDEX. 



its contest with Great Britain, 134; 
influence of the United States on, 
163; revolution in, 163, 164. 

Franklin, Benjamin [1706-1790], born, 
90; ills early days in Boston, 90-92; 
is apprenticed to liis brother, 92; his 
early studies, 93; Avrites for the 
newspaper, 93, 94; leaves Boston, 
95 ; his journey to Philadelpliia, 95, 
96; sets up as a printer, 98; goes 
to London, 98; returns to his trade 
in Philadelphia, 99; marries, 99; 
forms the Junto, 100; starts the 
Philadelphia Library, 100; is a pub- 
lic-spirited citizen, 101; his scien- 
tific work, 102; goes to England as 
agent, 102; his services as a diplo- 
matist, 141. 

Franklin, James, brother to Benjamin 
Franklin, 92; starts a newspaper, 
93; quarrels with his brother, 94; 
is left in the lurch bv him, 95. 

Fremont, John C. [1813-1890]. 210. 

French, pioneers m America, 31; trade 
with the Indians, 31; attack Cal- 
vert's colony, 68; the line of their 
settlements, 78; their character as 
settlers, 79, 80; their relations with 
Indians, 81; their strongholds in 
America, 82, 83; build Fort Du- 
quesne, 84; defeat Braddock, 85; 
are driven from Acadia, 86 ; waste 
their strength, 87 ; lose their Amer- 
ican possessions, 88, 89. 

Friends, the, or Quakers, 62; their be- 
lief and their customs, 62, 63; settle 
in Pennsylvania, 64; affect the pros- 
perity of 'the State, 182. 

Fugitive Slave Law, the, 208. 

Fulton, Robert [1765-1815], and his 
" Folly," 170. 



Gage, General [1720?-1787], gover- 
nor of Massachusetts, 116; orders 
troops to Concord, 117. 

Garfield, James Abram [1831-1881], 
272. 

George II., king of England [1683- 
1760], 73. 



Georgia, origin of, 74; is attacked by 
Spaniards, 75; changes its govern- 
ment, 76; its attitude regarding tlie 
Creeks, 206; its history, 232, 233. 

Germans settle in Pennsylvania, 63, 
182; attracted to the western coun- 
try, 190. 

Gettysburg, battle of, 232. 

Gold, discovery of, in California, 
201. 

Grant, Ulysses S. [1822-1885], Gen- 
eral, brings the war for the Union 
to a close, 222 ; President, 272. 

Gray, Robert [1755-1806], finds tlie 
Columbia River, 198. 

Greene, Nathanael [1742-1786], 134; 
his value as a soldier, 145. 

Greenland, found by Norwegians, 24. 

Gulf Stream, the, 67. 



Hale, Nathan, [1755-1776], martyr- 
dom of, 139, 140. 

Hamilton, Alexander, [1757-1804], 
159; his plans for paying the United 
States debt, 160. 

Hampton, Va., normal school at, 187. 

Hancock, John [1737-1793], 117; 
president of the Continental Con- 
gress, 130, 

Harrison, Benjamin [1833-1^)01], 273. 

Harrison, William Henry [1773-1841], 
269. 

Hartford. Conn., settlement of. 55. 

Harvard University founded, 52, 233. 

Hawaii, annexed to United States, 
283. 

Haves, Rutherford B. [1822-1893], 
elected President, 228, 272. 

Henry, Patrick [1736-1799], the Vir- 
ginia orator, 141. 

Hudson, Henry, discovers the river to 
which his name is given, 32. 

Huguenots in the Carolinas, 72. 



Idaho, 249. 

Illinois, history of, 242. 
Impressment of seamen, 168. 
Independence, Declaration of, 128. 
India, route to, to-day, 18; the route 



INDEX. 



in the fifteenth century, 19 ; the 
countries once so called, 19 ; its im- 
portance to Europe, 19, 20. 

[ndian Territory, 250. 

[ndiana, history of, 241, 242. 

Indians, so called by the first European 
visitors, 12; their present homes, 12; 
division into tribes, 13; their mode 
of life, 14; their weapons and 
houses, 16; their squaws and pa- 
pooses, 17; their wars, 17; their 
games and dances, 18 ; origin of 
the name, 18, 29; their dealings 
with the French and with the Dutch, 
31, 33; their relation with the Vir- 
ginia colony, 38, 40; and with the 
Plymouth colony, 45, 47 ; they are 
crowded out by the whites, 57; at- 
tempts at Christianizing them, 58; 
they attack the settlements, 59; 
treatment by Penn, 64; treatment 
by Oglethorpe, 75; their connection 
with the. French, 79 ; their relations 
to French and English in war time, 
81, 82; interference with western 
settlements, 186 ; their treatment by 
the government, 187; attempts to 
make citizens of them, 187. 

Iowa, history of, 245. 

Ireland, families from, in the Caro- 
linas, 72; famine in, and consequent 
emigration from, 188, 190. 

Iroquois, a tribe of Indians, 13. 

Isabella, queen of Spain [1451-1504], 
26. 

Island Number Ten, battle at, 240. 



Jackson, Andrew [1767-1845], 269. 

Jackson, Stonewall [1824-1863], 219. 

James I., king of England [1566- 
1625], 36; gives a charter to the 
company that settles Virginia, 36; 
appoints rulers of the colony, 39. 

Jamestown, the settlement of, 36. 

Japan, Columbus thinks America, 28. 

Jefferson, Thomas [1743-1826], writes 
the Declaration of Independence, 
130; his leadership, 142, 143; first 
Secretary of State, 1.59 ; buys Lou- 



isiana for the United States, 165; 

President, 266, 268. 
Johnson, Andrew [1808-1875], 270. 
Jones, John Paul [1747-1792], 148. 
Junto, the, formed by Franklin and 

his friends, 100. 

Kalb [1721-1780], 148. 

Kansas and Nebraska struggle, 209, 

248. 
Kentucky, history of, 238. 
Kill, in Dutch names, 61. 
King Philip's war, 65. 
Knox, General [1750-1806], 159. 
Kosciusko [1745?-1817], 148. 

Lafayette, Count [1757-1834], 134; 
his services to America, 148, 149. 

Lee, Robert E. [1807-1870], 219; sur- 
renders to General Gi-ant, 221. 

Lexington, fight at, 118, 119. 

Lewis and Clarke expedition, the, 
198. 

Lincoln, Abraham [1809-1865], elected 
President, 210; determines to main- 
tain Anderson, 214; issues a procla- 
mation calling for volunteers, 214; 
issuer his emancipation proclama- 
tion, 216; his character, 222, 223; 
his death, 223; as President, 270. 

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth [1807- 
1882], 87. 

Louisburg, a stronghold of France, 82; 
its importance, 84 ; siege of, 88. 

Louisiana, Province of, purchased 
from France, 165, 166; effect of 
purchase of, 185 ; State of, 241. 



Madison, James [1751-1836], 268. 

Maine, originally a part of Massachu- 
setts, 56; admitted into the Union, 
194; history of, 244. 

Manila, captured by the Americans, 
282. 

Manufactures, rise of, in New England, 
174. 

Marietta founded, 241. 

Marion, Francis [1732-1795J, 148. 



I 



/ 



INDEX. 



Maryland, origin of, 67; toleration of 
religion in, 68; mode of living in, 
70; reason for formation of towns 
in, 71; history of, 234. 

Mason and Dixon's Line, 234. 

Massacliusetts, first settlements in, 48, 
50; trade witli England and Vir- 
ginia, 51; government and mode of 
life in, 54; migrations from, 55; its 
history, 233. 

"Mayflower," the, 42-44; sails into 
Plymouth Harbor, 45 ; returns to 
England, 47. 

McKinley, William [1844- ], 274. 

Mecklenburg Resolutions, 238. 

Mediterranean Sea, the, a great thor- 
oughfare, 19, 20. 

Mexico, conquered by Spain, 30; 
throws off the rule of Spain, 195; 
loses Texas, 195 ; war of the United 
States with, 196. 

Michigan, history of, 244. 

Middle States, the, 181. 

Minnesota, history of, 224, 246. 

Mississippi, history of, 242. 

Missouri, debate over the admission 
of, 192-194; historv of, 244. 

Monroe, James [1758-1831], 268. 

Montana, 249. 

Montcalm [1712-1759], 88. • 

Montgomery, Alabama, first seat of 
the Confederate government, 212, 
242. 

Moors, the, and how they overran 
Spain, 19. 

Morris, Robert [1734-1806], the finan- 
cier, 144. 

Mounds and mound-builders, 13, 14. 

Narragansett Bay, 55, 56. 

Nebraska, 248. 

Nevada, 248. 

New England, movement to found, 
50; its early character, 54-56; set- 
tlers from, in North Carolina, 71 
feeling of, regarding customs, 106 
new relations with the South, 173 
introduction of manufactures into, 
174; effect upon the habits of the 
people, 174; incre^ise of trade in. 



175; farmers from, go West, 181, 
182. 

" New England Courant," the, Frank- 
lin's paper, 94. 

Newfoundland, Calvert's attempt at 
establishing a colony in, 67 ; the at- 
tempt abandoned, 68. 

New Hampshire, the beginning of, 56 ; 
history of, 236. 

New Haven, Connecticut, founding of, 
55. 

New Jersey, the beginning of, 61; his- 
tory of, 232. 

New Mexico, 252, 

New Netherland, 59; becomes New 
York, 60. 

New Orleans, battle of, 241. 

Newport, Rhode Island, New York 
near, 181. 

Newspapers in the South during the 
war for the Union, 219. 

New York, formerh^ New Netherland, 
60; history of, 237. 

New York (city), held by the British 
during the war for Independence, 
132, 181; its rapid growth, and some 
of the causes, 181, 182. 

North, advantages of the, in the war 
for the Union, 220-222. 

North Carolina, origin of, 71, 72; his- 
tory of, 237. 

Northwest Territory, 240, 241. 

Norwegians, find Greenland and Vin- 
land, 24 ; in the northwestern States, 
190. 

Nova Scotia, 83. 



Oglethorpe, James [1696-1785], 
founder of Georgia, 74; his services 
there, 75, 76; his great age, 76. 

Ohio, history of, 241. 

Oklahoma, 252. 

Old South Meeting-house in Boston, 
scenes at, 112-114. 

Oregon, first boundaries of, 199; dis- 
pute over, between the English and 
the Americans, 199, 200; admitted 
into the Union, 201; history of, 246. 

Otis, James [1725-1783], 107. 



INDEX. 



g 



pALOS, the port from which Columbus 
sets sail, 27. 

Parliament, the king and, 48, 50; re- 
mote from the colonies, 103; passes 
unequal laws, 104; its authority 
questioned, 108; not represented by 
Americans, 108; its action regarding 
the Stamp Act, 109 ; passes the Bos- 
ton Port Bill, 115; its misunder- 
standing of America, 253, 254. 

Penn, William [1644-1718], interested 
in NeAV Jersey and then in Pennsyl- 
vania, 62; makes a home for the 
Friends, 63; his humane govern- 
ment, 64; his dealings with the In- 
dians, 65 ; returns to England, 66. 

Pennsylvania founded by William 
Penn, 62; settled by Friends, 63; 
Germans, 63; and Swedes, 64; its 
laws, 64; government of, 66; its 
varied development, 182, 184; its 
history, 232. 

People of the United States its rulers, 
252-254. 

Percy, Lord [1742-1817], sent to rein- 
force the British at Concord, 119. 

Philadelphia, founded, 65 ; Franklin's 
experience in, 96; greatly helped 
by Franklin, 101 ; the seat of impor- 
tant bodies, 182; celebration of cen- 
tennial at, 228. 

Philippine Islands, 282. 

Pierce, Franklin [1804-18(59], 270. 

Pilgrims, the, leave England for Hol- 
land, 42 ; leave Holland for Amer- 
ica, 42; reach Provincetown, 44; 
reason for their name, 44 ; laud at 
Plymouth, 45 ; form a colony, 46 ; 
their first winter, 47 ; their hard- 
ships and'courage, 47. 

Pitt, William [1708-1778], the great 
English leader, 87. 

Pittsburgh, once Fort Duquesne, 83. 

Pittsburgh Landing, battle of, 240. 

Plymouth, the colony at, 45-47 ; move- 
ment toward Connecticut, 54. 

Pocahontas, the story of, 40, 41. 

Polk, James Knox [1795-1849], 269. 

Ponce de Leon [14607-1521], 245. 

Pope, the, and the English nation, 34. 



Portugal, the king of, deceives Colum- 
bus, 25; its maritime power, 30; 
possesses Brazil, 30. 

Portuguese, the, explore the coast of 
Africa, 20; discover the coast of 
South America, 30. 

Powhatan and Captain John Smith, 
40. 

Prescott, Colonel [1726-1795], at Bun 

. ker Hill, 123. 

Pi-esident, the, and Congress, 260; 
duties and powers of, 261-265. 

Presidents, the, 265-274. 

Princeton, New Jersey, 232. 

Printing, mvention of, 30. 

Providence, Rhode Island, founded, 
56. 

Provincetown, the first landing-place 
of the Pilgrims, 44. 

Provincial Congress in Massachusetts, 
117; its action after Lexington and , 
Concord, 120; asks the Continental 
Congress to take charge of affairs, 
122. 

Puritans, the, in England, 48; send a 
colony to Massachusetts Bay, 50; 
found schools in New England, 52; 
their government and mode of life, 
54; their impatience of interference, 
56 ; their treatment of Indians, 58. 

Putnam, Israel [1718-1790], at Bunker 
Hill, 123; his bravery when a young 
man, 144; his alertness, 145. 



Quakers. See Friends. 

Quebec, a great fortress, 80; its im- 
portance to the French, 82; is cap- 
tured bv Wolfe, 88. 



Railroads, the first, in America, 171, 

172. 
Randolph, Edmund [1753-1813], 159. 
Reconstruction, 224, 225. 
Representatives, House of, 256-261. 
Republican Party, the, comes into 

power, 210. 
Revere, Paul [1735-1818], and. his 

ride, 118. 



INDEX. 



Rhode Island, the beginning of, 55. 
Richmond, Virginia, the capital of 

the Confederacy, 215. 
Rolfe, the husband of Tocahontas, 40. 
Rotch, Mr., 114. 



St. Louis, center of Western fur- 
trade, 199. 

Salem, Massachusetts, settlement at, 
50. 

San J^rancisco, imaginary journey to, 
from Washington, 9, 10. 

Sanitary Commission, the, 222. 

Scotland, families from, in the Caro- 
linas, 72. 

Scott, Wintield [178G-1866], in Mex- 
ico, 196. 

Secession of Southern States, 212-214. 

Senate of the United States, 25G-261. 

Shiloh, battle of, 240. 

Signal-service office, 9. 

Silk, attempt at the industry in Geor- 
gia, 75. 

Sioux Indians in Minnesota, 246. 

Slavery in the Southern States, as 
affecting modes of life, 176, 177; 
efforts to get rid of, 178; effect of, 
on the masters, 180 ; seeks new soil, 
191, 192; discussed as a system, 192; 
policy of the South regarding, 194, 
196; contest over, 204-210; abol- 
ished in the District of Columbia, 
208 ; brought to an end by the war 
for the Union, 216. 

Smith, Captain John [1579-1631], ad- 
ventures of, 39; his rescue by Poca- 
hontas, 40; leaves the colony, 41; 
his services to Virginia, 41. 

South, life in the, 175-181 ; policy of, 
regarding slavery, 192-208; its at- 
titude after the election of Lincoln, 
210-214 ; action regarding secession, 
215; its experience during the Avar 
for the Union, 218; what it resorted 
to for newspapers and letters, 219; 
its currency, 219; bravery of people 
in, 219 ; change in life, after the Avar, 
224 ; restoration of, to the Union, 
225. 



South Carolina, origin of, 72; character 
of, 72; glad of neighbors, 74; is ap- 
pealed to for aid, 75; sets up an in- 
dependent government, 127; enters 
into a quarrel with the United States, 
207; secession of, 212; history of, 234. 

Spain, possessed by the Moors, 19 ; the 
king and queen befriend Columbus, 
26; one of its ships sails round the 
Avorld, 29 : its possessions in the 
neAV Avorld, 30 ; its war with the 
Dutch, 32; has settlements in Flor- 
ida, 71 ; attacks Georgia. 7.5 ; be- 
comes possessed of Louisiana, 89 ; 
makes it OA^er to France, 165 ; revolt 
of her provinces, 279. 

" Spectator," the, Franklin forms his 
style on, 93. 

" SpeedAS-ell," the, 42. 

Stamp Act, passage of, 107; indigna- 
tion of people at, 109 ; repeal of, 109, 

" Star-spaugled Banner," song of, 234. 

State feeling, 206. 

Steamboats, tirst use of, in the United 
States, 170. 

Steuben [1730-1794], 148. 

Stone River, battle of, 240. 

Suez Canal, 18. 

Swedes, in PennsAdvania, 64, 66; in 
DelaAvare, 66 ; in the NortliAA'est, 190. 

Swiss in the Carolinas, 72. 



Tariff, the, 258. 

Tax on tea, the. 111. 

Taxation, Avithout representation, 108; 
by one's self different from taxation 
by another, 162. 

Taxes laid by Congress, 258. 

Taylor, Zachary [1784-1850], in Mexi- 
co, 196; President, 269. 

Tea-part}', the Boston, 110-115. 

Tennessee, histo;-y of, 240. 

Tennessee, East, Union men in, 220, 
240. 

Territories, the, and their nature, 249, 
250. 

Texas, separates from Mexico, 195; is 
admitted into the Union, 196; his- 
tory of, 245. 



INDEX. 



Thomson, Charles [1729-1824], secre- 
tary of Continental Congress, 130. 

Tilden, Samuel J. [1814-1886], 228, 
229. 

Tobacco, first raised in Virginia, 38; 
importance of, as a crop, 70. 

Tories, 132. 

Trimountain, afterward Boston, 50; 
survives in Tremont, 51. 

Trumbull, Jonathan [1740-1809], 203. 

Tyler, John [1790-1862], 269. 

Union men at the South, 220. 

United States of America, the confed- 
eration of, formed, 131; its weakness 
as a great power, 153; union formed, 
156 ; relation of the Union to the 
confederation, 160 ; expansion of its 
territory, 166; war with England, 
166-168; its condition after the war, 
169 ; reconstruction of, 225 ; celebra- 
tion of centennials of, 226-228. 

Utah, 248, 252. 

Valley Forge, 136, 137. 

Yan Buren, Martin [1782-1862], 269. 

Vermont, history of, 238. 

Veto, the, 260. 

Vinland, stories of, 24. 

Virginia, origin of name of, 36; the 
first settlement in, 36, 37 ; struggles 
of the colony, 38 ; disputes regard- 
ing boundary of, 68, 70; -mode of 
life in, 70; disputes the French opera- 
tions, 84, 85; joins the Southern 
Confederacy, 215; historj^ of, 236, 
237. 

Voters and voting, 277, 278. 

Wah for Independence, the, 131-134. 



War for the Uui(m, the, 214-223. 

War of 1812, 168, 169. 

Washington, imaginary journey from, 
to San Francisco, 9, 10 ; selected 
for the capital, 160. 

Washington Territory and State, 249. 

Washington, George [1732-1799], first 
appearance of, 85; is made com- 
mander-in-chief, 122; sets out for 
Cambridge, 122 ; receives the sur- 
render of Corn wall is, 131 ; what he 
says of the heroic soldiers at Valley 
Forge, 137; his greatness in Ameri- 
can history, 149; his birth, 149; his 
early education, 150; his early mili- 
tary career, 151 ; his life in Virginia, 
152; his character, 152, 153; chosen 
first President, 158 ; his cabuiet, 
159; his interest in the West, 185; 
his death, 246. 

Watertown, INIassachusetts, 55. 

Wayne, Anthony [1745-1796], 146. 

West, early settlements in the, 184, 
185; immigration to, 185, 186; emi- 
gration from Europe to, 190; deveh 
opment of, 190, 191. 

West Indies, trade with, 52, 71, 72. 

West Virginia, 225, 248. 

Williams, Roger [1603?-1683], 56. 

Winthrop,John [1588-1649], first gov- 
ernor of Massachusetts, 50; his sj'm- 
pathy with the people, 52. 

Wisconsin, history of, 246. 

Wolfe, General [1727-1759], 88. 

Writs of assistance, 107. 

Wyoming, 249. 



Yale University, 233. 
Yorktown, Virginia, scene of Corn 
wallis's surrender, 131. 



INDEX. 



MAPS — COLORED. 
Page 



Routes of Navigators ... 
Euglish and French Possessions 



81 



Page 

Territorial Acquisitions . . . 169 
The United States of America . 225 



MAPS — UNCOLORED. 



Page 
Africa, Spain, and Portugal . . 21 

Earlv Virginia 37 

The New England Coast ... 49 
Between Montreal and New York 83 
Braddock's Route 84 



George Washington 
Christopher Columbus 
William Penn . . 
Alexander Hamilton 
John Jay .... 
Benjamin Franklin . 
John Adams . . . 
Thomas Jefferson 
James Madison . . 
Sam Adams . . . 
Patrick Henry . . 
James Monroe . . 
John Quincy Adams 
Andrew Jackson 
Henry Clay . . . 
John Caldwell Calhoun 
Daniel Webster , 
Martin Van Bureu 



PORTR 

Page 
Frontispiece 
23 



35 
53 
69 
97 
105 
129 
135 
142 
143 
147 
155 
161 
167 
179 
183 
189 



William McKin. 



Page 

Acadia 86 

Vicinity of Boston 118 

The Canadian Frontier, and Vicin- 
ity of Washington .... 168 
Charleston Harbor 213 

AITS. 

Page 

Samuel Houston 193 

William Henry Harrison . . 197 

John Tyler 205 

James Knox Polk 211 

Zachary Taylor 217 

Millard Fillmore 221 

Franklin Pierce - 227 

James Buchanan 231 

William Tecumseh Sherman . 235 

Abraham Lincoln , . . . . 239 

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow . 243 

Andrew Johnson 247 

Ulysses Simpson Grant . . . 251 

Rutherford Birchanl Hayes . . 255 

James Abram Garfield . . . 259 

Chester Alan Arthur .... 263 

Grover Cleveland ..... 2G7 

Benjamin Harrison 271 

, . . . . 274 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Page 
Scenes in Indian Life .... 15 
Dutch and Indians Trading . . 32 
Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor 43 

A Stockade . ' 58 

Philadelphia in 1682 .... 65 

Penn's House 66 

The Rock of Quebec 80 

Wolfe's Cove ....... 88 

Birthplace of Franklin .... 90 

Faneuil Hall in 1773 .... 112 

Signing of the Declaration of In- 
dependence 113 

Washington Crossing the Dela- 
ware 121 

Washington's Headquarters in 
Cambridge . . . 126 



Page 

Independence Hall, 1776 . . V2H 
Liberty Bell, Independence Hall lol 
A Soldier in the Continental 

Army 136 

Execution of Nathan Hale . . 139 
Capture of Stony Point ... 146 
Interior of Independence Hall 157 
Fulton's First Steamboat . . 171 
First Passenger Locomotive . 172 

A Cotton Field 177 

A Western Emigrant Train . 186 
City of San Francisco ... 203 
The Capitol at Washington . 257 
The White House, Washington 262 
The United States Supreme 

Court 276 



JtkUi^ 



AUG 12 1901 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




010 546 439 3 il 



M 




